Wake Up, You've Got Boy Problems
by sistokid
Summary: SLASH. It's unbelievable how oblivious people can be when the one freaking person they should be with is sitting right next to them. Or lying right next to them. Or tackling them into the snow and simultaneously ripping their jacket off. Chris/Gordie
1. Gingerbread As Good As Sex

**This has existed on my computer for way too long. Here, folks, we have the first chapter of a completed and quite long story. Flames will be mocked, so pack your bags and scoot, homophobes. Take your ignorance elsewhere.**

**This story is rated for language, though I cleaned it up so there shouldn't be any naughty 'f' bombs. But other not-very-nice words live here. You have been warned. I refuse to rate this for homosexuality, because that's just ridiculous.**

**I don't own Stand By Me, or The Body. There'd be a lot more boys making out if I did.**

**I **_**do**_** however own the amazingly good gingerbread and Teddy's killer ice-filled snowballs. And the plot.**

**That is all.**

"Gordon, Christopher is on the telephone."

Gordie Lachance practically bolted down the stairs to grab the phone away from his mother. She in turn shot him a disapproving glare, and walked off mumbling something about 'rudest things ever, those children'. Gordie shrugged it off and slammed the phone to his ear.

"Chris?"

"Hey Gordie," the so very familiar voice crept out of the phone. Truth be told, Gordie would know that voice _anywhere_, considering he and Chris had been best friends for so damn long, since… now when the hell did they meet? To Gordie, it wasn't really a set day or even a year. It seemed more like he'd known that freaking Chambers kid since before he was born.

"Hey, what's going on?" Gordie tried to play it cool, after the excitement of receiving a phone call had died off.

"Nothin' much. Me and the guys were gonna head to that field next to the old pond, maybe have a good snowball fight. You in?" Hell yeah he was in, it was mid-December and they had just gotten a good four and a half inches of snow last night. Besides, he had woken up early and gotten all of his Saturday morning chores done already.

"Yeah. Meet you guys there in half an hour?" Gordie asked.

"Sure. Vern said we could go back to his place for hot cocoa later, too."

"Alright. Bye."

He hung up the phone and just stood there for a few minutes. He, Chris, Vern, and Teddy had somehow managed to remain friends the past few years. Yeah, Vern and Teddy were in the shop classes, and Gordie hadn't really seen either around school, but they still did things every few weekends together.

Chris was another story. Gordie saw him every damn day, since he was with him in the college courses. And they were together after school a lot, too, mostly so Gordie could help Chris pass the courses.

He ran back upstairs, and began to dig through his closet for warmer clothes. After rummaging for a good ten minutes (and managing to make a pigsty out of his room), he finally found some thicker pants, a flannel shirt, and his winter coat. After he changed, he scrambled down the stairs, barely calling out a goodbye to his mother before he slammed the door behind him.

LALALALALALALA

By the time Gordie arrived at the snow-blanketed field, Chris was already making a snow fort, Teddy had made about a dozen snowballs in a neat pile, and Vern had apparently fallen a few times, judging by how he had a layer of snow plastered to his clothes and hair. Smirking to himself, Gordie strutted over, taking extra care not to slip and fall and look like a total idiot.

"Hey Gordo… was wondering when you were gonna show up," Teddy remarked, hurling a snowball at him as soon as he was in range. Gordie ducked it, but just barely.

"Jesus, Teddy, lemme get over here first, wouldja?"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Chris and Vern stumbled over.

"Okay, so who's on whose team?" Vern asked, nonchalantly edging towards Teddy. Though the Duchamp kid may have been off his friggen rocker, he was a mean snowball fighter. When Teddy played, it wasn't just a Saturday afternoon game between four friends. It was a freaking full-out _war_.

Chris grinned. "Teams? Naw, it's every man for himself."

"More like every man and Vern the pussy for himself," Teddy added, receiving only a pouting face from Vern.

"But… what if… why can't we…" Vern tried to put together a good excuse, but came up empty. "Damn. Fine…"

So the four chucked snowballs at each other for hours. Some were put together so poorly they crumbled before impact (usually these were from Vern), while others had the occasional chunk of ice hidden inside (Teddy was responsible for these). By five PM, all four were red-faced, laughing, and shivering terribly. Vern had a few light bruises from the ice-filled snowballs, all generally around his head area.

"Jesus, its cold. Can we head back to your house, Vern?" Chris asked, rubbing his bare hands together in a feeble attempt to build up heat. Teddy and Gordie nodded in agreement, both with blue lips and numb fingers.

"Yeah, and my mom said she'd maybe make some gingerbread, too! Sincerely!" Vern pretty much shouted, getting excited by his own words. They raced to his house. Teddy was in the lead, Chris and Gordie close seconds, and Vern trailed behind by a good ten feet.

LALALALALALALA

"Jeez, Verno, your mom makes some good gingerbread," Teddy said, mouth full of cookie. Chris managed a low 'mmm' in agreement, but Gordie just gave a slow head nod. All four boys were sprawled out in Vern's living room, enjoying the fireplace and the ridiculously amazing gingerbread.

"God _damn_. I had no _idea_ cookies could taste so good," Chris finally said, leaning back against the couch. Vern's mother, a short, portly woman, entered with a tray of four steaming mugs of cocoa.

"Here you are, boys. How's the gingerbread?"

"Amazing, Mrs. Tessio. Better than my mom makes it," Teddy stated. Mrs. Tessio beamed down at him, then turned and walked away. Gordie watched her go, finding it amazing how Vern's parents didn't judge his friends like his own dad did. In reality, neither Teddy nor Chris were bad kids. Yeah, Teddy was crazy, and Chris would have to work extra hard to not be like his old man, but even so, they were good at heart. Mrs. Tessio seemed to notice that, or maybe she had that same oblivious air to her Vern did. Or maybe she was just happy that Vern didn't hang out with the same kind of people his brother Billy did. Either way, it was nice.

"Well, gotta get home before my mom sends the entire police force on a search party for me," Teddy said, slowly getting up. "Then again, hiding from the police would be freaking awesome…" His thoughts drifted off as his mind went crazy with the idea. Chris laughed.

"Go home, Teddy," he sighed, and Teddy smirked and walked off, snatching the last bit of gingerbread off the tray on his way out. Gordie stood up to stretch.

"We should probably head home too… we got church in the morning." He gave Chris a hand up, thanked Mrs. Tessio, and shuffled out the door into the cold, Chris by his side. "So you comin' over tonight?" he asked Chris, remembering Chris mumbling something earlier about his dad on another mean streak.

"Yeah, as long as your old man's okay with it…"

"Naw, but who cares. He probably won't even come upstairs anyway," Gordie said casually, and Chris smirked. Gordie found himself looking at Chris's smirk for maybe a second or two too long. _He always has that same damn smirk…_ Gordie realized he was still eyeing Chris's mouth, and looked away quickly. _Must be the damn cold gettin' to my head. It's gotta be below zero by now…_ He stuffed his hands in his pockets quickly and kept walking, head down.

LALALALALALALA


	2. Butterflies and Excessive Electricity

**Here's the next one, if anyone cares to read. I don't own Stand By Me, or the Body, or any of the characters from said things.**

**Warning for language. But it's not horrible language.**

**Reviews would be appreciated, but I won't die if you choose not to.**

By the time they reached Gordie's house, both boys were once again shivering violently and their fingers were quickly turning purple and numb. After wrenching open the door, skidding up the stairs, and locking themselves in Gordie's room, they huddled by the heater. It took a solid ten minutes for them to fully have feeling in their limbs again, both joking and laughing all the while.

Finally they were warm enough to move around, and Gordie dug out his comic book stash. Realistically, it wasn't cool for sixteen year olds to still have comics, and practically every other boy in their grade had traded theirs for Playboys, but Chris and Gordie liked to just settle back in a locked room and laugh over the childish alternatives.

Soon enough, the clock beside Gordie's bed read 10:48.

"Come on Chris, we should hit the sack. Church is at ten tomorrow morning, and Father Jacob says if you fall asleep during Mass one more time, you're gonna get extra Sunday school homework." Chris yawned and flopped on the bed, nodding in agreement. He then grinned and spread out taking up the entire bed.

"Night, Lachance."

"No goddamn way, Chambers, give me some space," Gordie laughed, trying to shove Chris over to one side of the bed. Unsuccessfully. "Chriiiiiiissssss, move _over_. Don't make me hafta sleep on top of you." He kept prodding Chris, and then resorted to total body slams against the blonde boy's torso.

"Gotta try harder than that, Gordie."

Gordie gave up, and simply piled on top of his best friend. "Jeez, Chambers, you're not very comfortable."

"Your mom doesn't mind it," Chris smirked. Gordie almost replied with a nasty comeback… but there was that goddamn smirk again. He just sat on Chris, gazing at the boy's perfect teeth, that one-sided smile… _Christ, what am I doing???_ He quickly scrambled off of Chris, trying hard as hell not to blush. Chris peered at him with one eye.

"You okay?" Gordie tried to say yeah, but it came out as more of a 'gugh'. Chris sat up with a concerned look. "I was just kidding, Gordie, about your mom. I didn't mean it…"

"No, no it's not that. I'm fine…" Finally managing to find his voice, Gordie took a few deep breaths, and cursed himself mentally when his last few shook a bit.

"Damn, Gordie, I'll move over. Here, lie down." Chris scooted to one side of the bed, motioning for Gordie to take the other half. And he did, but slowly, as if he would crumble if he went too quickly. Chris watched his every move as he went to lie down.

"I'm _fine_, Chris," Gordie stated, noticing his best friend's face. "Really. I'm probably just tired, from the cold and all." Chris nodded, unsure.

"Okay… just go to sleep, Gordie. I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Go to sleep." He rose and crawled over Gordie's thin form.

By the time he returned, Gordie was already snoring lightly. Chris smiled a little, and then went to crawl over him again. He did so veeeerrrryyyy slowly, as to not wake him up or accidently collapse on him. Settling down on his own side of the bed, Chris glanced once more at Gordie… then held the gaze. _He looks so peaceful… like he's got no worries in his life. _Chris kept looking at Gordie's face. _He looks like a freaking angel… he's so beautiful…_ Wait. What? Chris shook his head to clear it._ Did I just consider my best friend beautiful? The hell did that come from?_ He finished crawling over the other boy and flipped around, his back towards Gordie, and tried to push the concept out of his mind. But it kept coming back, and even after he fell asleep; somewhere in his subconscious, thoughts about his best friend kept running on.

LALALALALA

Gordie woke up first. Well, he wasn't quite awake; it was more of that half-dreamy state where the line between imaginary and reality just doesn't exist. He rolled over a bit, arm flopping upon a squishy pillow. _Mmmmm… this pillow is really warm…_ he thought. Slowly, his brain began to question _why_ the pillow was so damn warm. Once he remembered Chris was sharing his bed, Gordie jerked back harshly and fell to the floor. The loud thump woke Chris.

"Gordie? Wheredja go?" Chris looked up dazedly. He shook his head, rubbed his eyes, and peered over the edge of the bed. "Comfy, Lachance?"

"Shuddup. I fell."

"Obviously. What time is it?" Chris yawned, glaring at the window and realizing there wasn't much sunlight streaming through it. Or any at all, really. Gordie clambered back onto the bed, and reached to the dresser for his watch, squinting in the dark. He grimaced.

"Three thirty-five." There was a pause.

"In the _morning_?" Chris asked loudly.

"Shhhh! Jesus, Chambers. _Yes_, in the morning." Gordie put the watch back, and proceeded to settle back in his half of the bed. Chris was still staring at him. "What?"

"Why'd you wake up? At three thirty-five in the damn morning?" Chris demanded, and Gordie realized he was pissed he was woken up so early.

"I just _did_, Chris. It's not like I _wanted_ to wake up this early. Sorry to interrupt your damn beauty sleep."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Not like I need beauty sleep anyway," Chris scoffed, finally lying back down. Gordie smirked.

"Yeah, you're too far gone for that. There's no hope for your face."

"… You calling me ugly, Lachance?"

"Me and your mom both know it," Gordie replied, and he could see Chris's tired grin in the dark. Chris settled back down, rolling to one side. He now faced Gordie fully.

"Shut up, Gordie. You know you find me _beautiful_," Chris murmured. A crazy tingle went down Gordie's spine. _What… the hell… was that._ He flinched uncomfortably, realizing he just got a chill from Chris Chambers's words. Chris opened one sleepy eye. "You okay, Gord? I can feel you movin' around on the bed."

"Ye-yeah. Fine. Just… trying to get comfortable," Gordie managed, attempting to divert all thoughts from Chris. The blonde nodded, closed his eye, and soon fell fast asleep. Gordie was still just lying there, gazing at his best friend. Out of pure curiosity, he scooted a hair closer to Chris. Not that there were many hairs of distance between them on the tiny bed. He scooted again, and his arm brushed Chris's. Something like a bolt of electricity shot down his body, from his brain to his fingers and toes at the contact. Gordie scooted back quickly, wondering just what the hell was going on with him. _Why is Christopher freaking Chambers making me feel so goddamn weird? And _why_ do I have the sudden urge to ram myself up against his body… crap. Damn it! Do I… I can't… actually like him… do I?_ That was the last intelligible thought to run through Gordie's mind before he too fell into a deep sleep. Little did he know, Chris was having similar thoughts, but in dream-form.

LALALALALA

When they woke up at a decent time, neither boy spoke for a good ten minutes. Finally, Gordie's mother broke the silence.

"Gordon? I've made breakfast… and you need to get ready for church," she called half-heartedly up the stairs. Gordie risked a glance at Chris, who had simultaneously snuck a glance at Gordie.

"Um… are you hungry?" Gordie asked, for lack of a better topic.

"Yeah… we haven't eaten since… the gingerbread yesterday," Chris said, his stomach rumbling loudly as if to prove his statement true. Gordie smiled a bit.

"Let's go then."

The two stampeded down the stairs and bounded in the living room, only to be hit with the amazing smell of scrambled eggs, waffles hot off the iron, and fresh coffee. The table was set for about ten people. A lot of the time it was. Gordie never understood this. One plate for him, two for his parents, one for Denny (there would probably always be one), _maybe_ one for Chris, though how his mother would've known he was in the house, Gordie had no idea… so who were the other five for? He never asked, just let it go and grabbed a random plate and some maple syrup. Chris followed his lead, picking out a plate of food and sitting next to Gordie. The brunette's parents were nowhere in sight. Then again, they were in the habit of eating alone, off in some room at some odd time of the day.

"So… what time is church?" Chris asked. Gordie stared at him.

"… Ten. Same time it is every Sunday."

"Oh. Okay." There was a long pause as Gordie dug into his eggs, and Chris nibbled on his waffles, noticeably sneaking thoughtful glances at the boy next to him. "So why _did_ you wake up so early?" Gordie nearly choked on his eggs.

"Um… I don't know. I just did. Not like I tried to wake up at that time. Why do you keep asking me?" Gordie asked, trying hard not to remember his thoughts from earlier. _I do not like him I do not like him I do __not__ like him_.

"I dunno… just thought maybe something woke you up. Like something was bothering you." Chris absentmindedly stabbed at his eggs, chopping them into rugged little bits. Gordie shook his head, but perhaps a second too quickly. Chris noticed his frantic response and raised an eyebrow.

"No. Nothin' bothering me," Gordie mumbled. Chris nodded, but didn't look fully convinced. However, both boys managed to finish off their breakfast, dump the plates in the sink, and wash up for church.

LALALALALA

Chris almost fell asleep during mass. Again. The church was packed, which wasn't unexpected since almost the whole town was Catholic, and there was only one church. Chris was therefore squished between Gordie and some smelly old man who kept whispering to himself about Jesus and ketchup. Chris didn't want to be compacted next to Ketchup man, but he didn't mind being squashed so close to Gordie. _Really_ didn't mind. He glanced around, and his sight fell upon where Gordie's right side was pressed to his left. _Damn_ they were close… if Chris just moved his left hand a teensy bit, he could be holding Gordie's hand. _No! Nonononono! Don't think like that. 'Specially in a church. And cuz he's a boy. And your best friend. But mostly because he's a BOY._ Chris thought, snapping his attention back to the priest. But every few seconds, either he or Gordie would wiggle around just a little bit, and the backs of their hands would rub. And a jolt of electricity, probably around a trillion watts, would run down Chris's spine and he'd get the craziest butterflies mankind has ever seen.

He probably would've dozed off, had it not been for those goddamn butterflies.

Gordie, completely unaware of his friend's current experiences, kept fidgeting and moving around. Church bored the living hell out of him… but then, what sixteen year old wanted to sit in a cramped church for two hours? He must've moved about a hundred times while sitting there, and each time unknowingly sent butterflies and chills throughout the blonde sitting next to him.

Gordie didn't mind being so close to Chris. But he was trying ridiculously hard not to think about it too much. _So what. I'm squished on a crappy wooden bench in the middle of church with my best friend_. _And so what if the fact that we're practically holding hands sends tingles down my arms. Every ten seconds._ He began to lose control of rational thoughts. _And who cares that if we turn our heads to look at each other, we'd be an inch away from kissing. _He could feel himself blushing, but he just couldn't kick those damn thoughts out. _And who gives a damn if I get random urges to just pin him to the freaking church wall and rip his clothes off and- WOAH. No! __No__, Gordie!_ He physically shook himself out of his thoughts, but the blush was still there, and the idea of him and Chris alone… Chris without clothes… Gordie shot up off of the bench, mumbled something about being sick, and raced out of the church.

LALALALALA


	3. Boy Troubles

**Here is the next one, hope it is suitable. Or at least relatively tolerable.**

**I use a lot of big words, don't I? People keep telling me that I do that in regular conversations all the time. But I swear my thought process isn't nearly as sophisticated as I may sound.**

_**Anyway**_**, I don't own Chris, or Gordie, or Stand By Me, or the Body.**

**And I must warn you that there is, once again, cursing here.**

**Merry Christmas and such.**

Chris couldn't find him for a good twenty minutes. He looked all around the church, then up and down the block, then finally, at the park. Gordie was swinging slightly on a rusty old swing, looking down and kicking the ground with his beat up Converse. Chris glanced around, and noticed the place was completely empty. No wonder, everyone else was in church, and the few Jews and Protestants that lived in that town weren't around. Chris wandered over to Gordie, and collapsed in the swing next to him.

"Hey."

"Hi," Gordie mumbled. Chris watched him draw odd patterns in the dirt with the tip of his shoe.

"You weren't really sick, were you?" Chris asked. Gordie looked away, sighing.

"No. Well… maybe yes. I don't know. Kind of." There was a pause. Gordie finally looked back at Chris, and almost fell off the swing. Chris had apparently moved _very_ closely to Gordie's swing, and now their faces were only about five inches apart. "… What?"

"You weren't really sick, were you?" he repeated quietly. Gordie stared at him.

"What the hell do you want me to say, Chris? I don't know. I sure as hell _felt_ sick… but no, I didn't actually _get _sick. Jesus." Chris still stared at him. "_What_, Chris? What the hell is your problem?"

"You weren't really sick-"

"NO, I wasn't freaking sick! Okay? I'm just really goddamn confused, and you being an ass doesn't help me! Just screw _off_, Chambers," Gordie snapped, getting off the swing. He stomped over to a park bench and slammed himself onto it, crossing his arms angrily. Chris watched him for a moment, then got up and walked over next to him.

"I'm sorry, Gordie. I didn't mean to piss you off. I just… I dunno… I've been confused lately too… and I don't know. You're my best _friend_, Gordo. I knew you were lying… I just didn't know why. Still don't. But whatever. I'm sorry," he said, looking down at his own worn Converse. Gordie nodded and scooted over, letting Chris sit down next to him.

"Sorry for being a bitch. I don't know what's wrong with me. I didn't _mean_ to yell at you… it just kinda happened. And you know I'd tell you anything, Chris. But honest to God, I don't really know what's wrong with me." Gordie looked down at his lap, fiddling with a hole in his jeans. _Except I think I may like you. More than I should. More than you like me. And I have no damn clue why I do_, he thought solemnly.

"Is it your parents?" Chris asked suddenly, and Gordie snapped back to Earth.

"Nah. They don't really effect me anymore."

"School's too hard?" Chris tried. Gordie smirked.

"I'm practically a friggen genius. School's never hard."

"Girl troubles?" Chris's voice cracked ever so slightly on this one. Gordie looked up at him, locking eyes with the blonde. Then he began poking at the same hole in his jeans.

"No." He said it so bluntly, like Chris had made the weirdest suggestion ever. This gave Chris a teeny boost of extra confidence.

"… Boy troubles?" Chris almost whispered. Gordie's head shot up. His mouth was open, but no sound came out. He began to turn bright red. He could _feel_ the heat in his face building up.

"Wh… wha…?" was all he could get out. Chris was watching him intently, but his face began to slowly turn pink as well. Gordie cleared his throat. "That… that's ridiculous. Why would I… I'm not ga…" Chris was now almost smiling, the corners of his mouth turning up a tad. "I'm not gay." Gordie finally managed, but it was said like a question more than a statement.

"Oh. Okay," Chris said, but Gordie could tell he didn't believe him.

Chris didn't sleep over that night.

It was Sunday, and they had school tomorrow, and to be honest, Gordie wanted some time away from Chris. His mind was all over the place… between these new feelings, and Chris… he seemed to _know_. Or at least, he sure as hell made a good guess earlier. Boy troubles? God, Chris had no idea.

So Gordie lay awake in his bed, alone. His watch claimed it was 10:39 at night, but he neither was aware nor did he really care. He tried his hardest to piece together what'd been going on, but he could only think of one thing.

He liked Christopher Chambers. Like-liked. He was… well, not completely straight. And Chris seemed to know something was up.

Gordie woke up the next day, exhausted and nervous as hell. _Okay, so I like a guy. Big deal._ But the thing is, it _was_ a big deal. And he knew it. Homosexuality wasn't exactly an accepted concept in the small town. But even if it were, how the hell would he tell Chris? 'Hey, I know you're my best friend, and we're both guys, and you have a total badass reputation and you already get enough crap kicked out of you on a daily basis, but I like you. Wanna date?' Not exactly his idea of a good conversation starter.

He practically dragged himself to class, dreading the fact that Chris was in every one of his goddamn classes. And they sat right next to each other in all of them. Sure enough, Chris was slumped in his chair, watching Gordie's every move as he slid in the desk next to him. Not daring to even glance at his blonde friend, Gordie pulled out his workbook and stared in the general direction of the teacher.

He somehow managed not to talk to Chris until the after last period. Just as the last bell rang, he sprung out of his seat and power-walked to his locker. Chris followed him closely. As soon as Gordie had put away a few books and closed the locker door, Chris grabbed the brunette's shoulder and spun him around so they were face-to-face.

"Okay, what's the matter with you? You've been avoiding me since yesterday after the park," Chris demanded. Gordie opened his mouth to protest, but Chris cut him off. "And don't even _think_ of denying it. I know you better than anyone. At least… I thought I did…" The hurt look on Chris's face made Gordie want to hug him tightly and make everything all better. Seeing Chris like that nearly killed him.

"Chris… I'm sorry. I really am. I didn't really mean to avoid you. Honest. It's just… I've been feeling certain… _things_… towards this person I know… and I'm not supposed to. It's just messing with my head." Gordie took a deep breath. "But I swear on Denny's grave, I never _ever _meant to hurt you like I did. I'm sorry, Chris," he finished, shaking a little bit. Chris smiled a little, but it wasn't that smirk that caught Gordie's attention in the first place. It was a real smile, pure and simple. And it almost made Gordie melt to the floor.

"It's okay, Gord. To be honest, I've kinda been feeling weird things lately, too. I guess I'm just better than you at dealing with it," he said, giving Gordie a playful shove. Gordie grinned.

"Yeah well, that's pretty much the _only_ thing you're better than me at. So appreciate you're one-time victory, Chambers."

"Screw off, Lachance. I'm better than you in tons of stuff. Like… racing you home!" he yelled, taking off at the speed of light. Gordie laughed and chased after him. Over the years, he'd gotten better at running, but then so had Chris. By the time they reached Gordie's street, they were running side-by-side, but Gordie was losing energy fast. In the last few seconds, Chris got a burst of adrenaline. He beat Gordie to the house by about a millisecond.

"Jesus, Gordie. Thought we were gonna tie. What happened, run out of energy?" Chris teased. Gordie was bent over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. His only response was flipping the bird at Chris. Once he could finally breathe normally again, he stood up and looked at him.

"Almost had you, Chambers. Almost."

"Yeah, okay, Lachance. Except, you didn't."

"Shut up." There was an awkward pause.

"Wanna go to the lake?" Chris asked. Gordie gave him a look.

"Chris, it's freaking December. There's nothing at the lake besides fishing, and you know what happened to my pole," he remarked. Chris grinned at the memory. They, Teddy, and Vern had all been ice fishing two winters ago. Gordie had taken a break, and left his pole out on the ice. Vern ran to get it, slipped on the icy surface, and skidded across the lake, slammed into the fishing pole, and snapped it in two. He then proceeded to slide into a hole in the surface, pole and all. Chris and Teddy yanked him out, but the fishing pole was never seen again. Teddy and Chris thought it was freaking hilarious, but Vern felt terrible, and Gordie kept trying to dive in the icy water to get it. Considering Vern almost froze to death from being in there for only five seconds, Chris wouldn't let Gordie anywhere near the damn hole.

"Alright. Then what do _you_ think we should do?" Chris sat down on Gordie's front porch. Gordie hesitated, but eventually sat down next to him.

"I dunno. We could just walk around," he said, but he knew how lame of a suggestion it was. Chris, however, didn't seem to think so.

"Okay… let's go through the woods. Maybe we'll see a fox or something." So they stood up and headed for the nearby wooded area. They walked in complete silence for a good ten minutes. Once they were relatively deep in the deserted woods, Gordie finally spoke.

"So… how are you doing in math?" Not only was it a pathetic attempt to start a conversation, but Gordie knew perfectly well how Chris was doing in every class. They worked together almost every night, and Gordie knew Chris's grades like his own. Chris picked up on this and shot him a look.

"Um… the same as this morning?" he half-asked. Gordie blushed a little. Chris sighed. "Listen, Gordie. I know things between us have been… weird lately, though I don't really know why, but come on. Let's just _do_ something," he said. Gordie shifted uncomfortably, and stopped walking.

"Like what?"

"Well… I think we should have a rematch at that race thing. I mean, your dignity currently looks like crap," Chris joked, and Gordie burst out laughing.

"You're on, Chambers. On the count of three. One, two-GO!" he shouted, bounding further into the woods. Chris cursed and sped after him. They ran for about two minutes, Chris slowly gaining on Gordie. Once he was right on his heels, he dove and tackled the brunette to the ground. They rolled around in the snowy leaves, laughing hysterically. Somehow, they managed to roll themselves out of their winter coats, letting the freezing snow press into their skin. Neither boy seemed to notice the temperature change. Gordie rolled onto Chris, pinning him down for a nanosecond. But Chris was slightly stronger and quickly dominated over the other boy. Out of breath, they sat up and tried to get their heart rates back to normal. Gordie glanced at Chris, and they locked eyes. But then Chris's eyes roamed to Gordie's hair, and he smirked. "What, Chambers?"

"There's like a million snowy leaves in your hair," Chris responded. Gordie began clawing at his bangs, and Chris laughed. "Here, lemme get it." He reached over and gently brushed the bits out of the shaggy brown hair. A bright red blush crawled up Gordie's face, and his breath became shaky. Chris stopped and looked at him. Gordie's eyes were closed tightly, and his chest was heaving up and down. "Hell, Gordie. Did I just give you butterflies?" Chris asked jokingly. When Gordie's eyes flew open, his face grew redder, and he didn't reply, Chris's jaw dropped. "Jeez… I really did, didn't I?" he whispered. He raised his hands again and began to softly brush the last few bits of leaves out, but kept going even when Gordie's hair was perfectly cleaned.

"Chris…" Gordie murmured. His friend only responded by scooting closer, to where their faces were only a few inches apart. Chris focused on Gordie's hair, now just stroking the long strands. Gordie realized that Chris wasn't cleaning out leaves anymore. "Chris," he said more clearly. Chris looked down into Gordie's eyes. _Tell him, Chris. Tell him how you feel. Just tell him how freaking amazing you feel every time you touch him. Tell him you like feeling his hair and never want to stop. Or just lean in a little and…_ "Chris… are the… are the leaves gone?" Gordie's low, quaky voice brought him back to planet Earth.

"Um… yeah. Sorry. They're all gone." He dropped his hands quickly, but he began to smirk. "So… I gave you butterflies," he boasted. Gordie slapped him in the back of his head.

"Did not. It just… tickled."

"Riiiiight. And that's exactly why you were as red as a friggen tomato."

"Shut up! I was not!" Gordie snapped, blushing even harder. Chris grinned.

"You look like a friggen fire truck, Lachance," Chris challenged, subconsciously inching closer to Gordie.

"Do not! And you were turning pretty goddamn pink, too, Chambers," Gordie replied, moving a hair towards Chris.

"That's a lie! Besides, you were the one who was breathing all shaky!" Chris countered, scooting even closer to Gordie. With his last scoot, their hands touched. Both gasped and two sets of eyes darted down to their colliding hands. Neither boy moved. Slowly, Chris lifted his eyes to look at Gordie's face. Gordie's gaze rose to meet Chris's.

Neither could recall who leaned in first. All Gordie could remember was his eyes closing and Chris's face getting closer to his. And then their lips were pressed together and he'd never felt anything so absolutely amazing. Chris tilted his head a little, and everything just got that much deeper. Chris's hand returned to Gordie's hair and entangled itself in a few strands. Gordie let his arm wrap around Chris's slim waist, and he gently leaned him back on the ground and straddled the blonde's hips.

Reality hit them about a second later. Gordie jerked back, still sitting on Chris. His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open. Chris's face mirrored his.

"… Woah," Gordie mumbled. He ran a hand through his hair. "Um… what just happened?"

"Um… I think we just… I don't really know." Chris lifted himself to his elbows, placing his face dangerously close to Gordie's again.

"I think we need to talk," Gordie said, twirling the end of his shirt nervously. Chris saw this and got a massive urge to rip the damn shirt off. He didn't really know what had happened a few seconds ago, but he didn't really want it to end, either. He reached over and began fiddling with the hem of Gordie's shirt, right next to where Gordie's fingers were already scrunching it. Gordie didn't notice the second fist on his clothing. Chris moved his hand just under the shirt, touching the brunette's stomach lightly. _That_ got Gordie's attention. He inhaled sharply and glanced down. "Chris… w-we need to… to ta-ahh…" Gordie couldn't finish his thought as Chris's hand roamed up his shirt, tracing unidentifiable patterns over the thin boy's chest. Chris's other hand reached around Gordie's neck and gently pulled him back down. Gordie, seeing no reason to resist, and having very little brain function at the current moment, let his friend guide his lips back to reconnect with the blonde's. The contact of their mouths along with Chris's roaming hand sent ridiculous shivers down Gordie's spine. This didn't go unnoticed by Chris, and he pulled Gordie even closer until their chests were pressed together. Slowly, Gordie crept his hands down to the hem of Chris's shirt, and in one swift motion, yanked the article of clothing off of his friend. His action broke their kiss for a second, but it was worth it once Gordie's hands were free to feel the newly revealed torso. Chris smiled into Gordie's mouth, and reached down to tear off his shirt. Once they were both half-naked, Chris flipped them over and placed himself on top of Gordie. Hooking his hands around Gordie's shoulders, he shifted his weight so he was more comfortable. He unintentionally rubbed his hips against Gordie's and a low 'mmmph' came from the brunette. Chris pulled back in surprise.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked worriedly. Gordie blushed and half-grinned.

"Um… no… it's just… it felt good," he said shyly. Chris looked down at their hips and groins crushed together. He looked back up at Gordie and raised an eyebrow.

"What… like this?" he asked, grinding his hips against Gordie's again. Gordie bit back a moan, but his eyes snapped shut and his back arched slightly.

"Damn, Chris…" Gordie whispered. Chris smirked and continued rubbing their hips together, and reconnected their lips. He was getting into it too, and began to thrust harder. Gordie dug his fingers into Chris's back, and the blonde moaned into Gordie's mouth. Gordie traced his fingers down Chris's sides to the waistband of his jeans, and began fumbling with the button and zipper. He almost had it when-

"WHAT. THE. HELL."


	4. I Think I Like You

**Hello, I do in fact exist, kind reviewers/readers/watchers. I realize that for about two months I disappeared off of the face of the planet. That's because I'm an idiot and I broke my four thousand dollar laptop. And the assholes at the Apple company took a month, instead of a week like initially promised, to tell me that I needed a new one. So, here we are.**

**It's also because every time I write something, I literally edit it and rewrite it about sixty times. Although I originally finished this story, this chapter is entirely redone. I do tend to write cliche things, which I hate doing, so I am trying to actually give a good plot.**

**In other news, I do have a good excuse, as in a happy one, for why it took so long for me to update. I am currently working on a Chris/Gordie oneshot, which actually has an unused plot in this pairing on this website, but instead of it being the one or two thousand word story like I originally planned, it's currently at ten thousand and still going. I don't know when that will be finished.**

**I'm done rambling now.**

**If you notice any plot or grammatical errors, please tell me. I hate those. But once more, flames will be used to set the flamer's head on fire. Or their crotch, if the flame is because of homophobia. Go away, homophobes. You assholes.**

**I do not own Chris or Gordie or Teddy, or the book or movie that my story is based on. I do own the story itself.**

**This chapter is rated for curses. But they're not that bad.**

**And a sincere thank you to s13jshaffer for pointing out a wording error. Gracias!**

**Peace out.**

The two boys jerked apart faster than speeding rockets. Standing in front of them was none other than Teddy Duchamp. And the look on his face told them he had seen a good portion of their fun little session. The two shakily stood up, fidgeting with the snow pasted to their knees. Chris ran a hand through his hair nervously.

"Um… hi, Teddy," he began. Something in Teddy's face was odd. Sure, he looked surprised as all hell, but he didn't seem… mad or even remotely grossed out. Both Chris and Gordie immediately put that down as a good sign, but neither got their hopes up.

"… Having fun, there?" Teddy asked awkwardly. Gordie turned red and stared at his feet. The only thing going through his head was a repeated mantra of _oh no damn hell crapcrapcrap_. The two waited out their friend's reaction like two convicts waiting for their sentencing at a hearing. But the Duchamp kid did something completely unexpected.

Teddy laughed. It was still loud and screechy, just like when he was little, except now it ranged from the same high pitch to an even deeper tone, thanks to a few years of puberty. Somehow, the larger note range made it even creepier.

"I gotta admit it; I'm not overly surprised," he gasped between squeals of laughter. Gordie and Chris's eyes shot up to look at Teddy in wordless questions. "Don't get me wrong. It surprised the living hell out of me to catch you guys in the middle of the woods like… well, like that." He indicated their bare chests and Chris's undone pants. Chris blushed and quickly fixed them. "But… I kinda figured you guys might be… you know..."

"We're not!" Gordie and Chris shouted in unison. Teddy stared at them dubiously.

"Right… so either you two _weren't_ just going at it, or one of you is secretly a girl. My money's on Lachance," Teddy stated seriously. Gordie glared at him.

"Go screw."

"You guys already got that covered," Teddy replied, grinning like an idiot. Chris turned a furious shade of red.

"Shut up, Duchamp. We weren't screwing. And we're not… we don't…" But Chris couldn't finish his sentence. It was like the words suddenly turned to pudding in his throat. Gordie realized his difficulty and tried to explain it himself.

"We're not gay, Teddy. Chris just… fell on me. And we were just wrestling," Gordie said, and Chris nodded his agreement. Although, once he said it, Gordie rethought his excuse and realized just how stupid it sounded. Of course, Teddy realized this almost exactly the same time Gordie did. The questionably sane Duchamp kid smirked.

"With your shirts off?"

"Guys can wrestle shirtless and not be gay."

"In December? And besides, Chris's jeans were halfway off. And I don't know of any fighting style which involves your mouths touching," Teddy countered. Neither Gordie nor Chris could think of a good reply. "Well, you guys can live in denial all you want. I'll leave you to your 'wrestling'. I only came out here for some fresh air, anyways. I was at Vern's house and his mom made a bean casserole for lunch. And let me tell you, that kid makes a crapload of gas when fueled by beans." He turned to leave, but Chris grabbed his arm.

"Wait, Teddy… don't… don't go spreading rumors about this, okay? We're _not_ gay. But whatever you thought you saw, just don't go telling people. Okay?" Chris pleaded. Teddy's face softened.

"I won't, pinky swear. But you guys should at least admit it to yourselves. Or read a book on how to wrestle properly. But seriously, I won't tell," he said, and then walked in another direction. The two watched him go until he was no longer in sight. Chris sighed and looked around for his shirt. It had some snow on it, and when he put it on he got goose bumps and began to shiver. Gordie didn't move, just stared at the direction Teddy left in. Chris picked up his friend's shirt.

"Um, Gordie? Here's your… uh… shirt," he mumbled, holding out the clothing. Gordie turned slowly and glanced down at his friend's outstretched hand. There was a two second pause before he actually took the article of clothing and put it on.

"Christ, it's cold." The brunette dug under some snow for his coat and wrapped himself in it, but Chris left his own coat three feet away, in an icy pile.

"Gordie. We need to talk." Gordie almost laughed at the irony. Just a little while ago, he had said the same damn thing, and it lead to… well… other things. But Chris's tone was dead serious, and Gordie kept his demeanor serious. "I meant what I said before. To Teddy. I'm not gay. I mean… I don't know. I've had crushes on girls and all that typical stuff. And I don't like boys. Except…" Chris trailed off and looked hopelessly at Gordie.

"I don't go looking at boys, either, Chris. But if neither of us is gay, then what the hell just happened?" He flopped down to the snowy ground, sitting against a tree. "I mean… I gotta be completely honest with you. I don't want to deal with this."

Chris looked away sharply but nodded. "I know. It's bad enough that we did… whatever that was… and got caught by Teddy. He's one of our best friends, for Christ's sake. Putting up with the rest of the town would be absolute hell."

"Exactly."

"But," Chris began, hesitating. "I think I like you, Gordie." The thin brunette didn't look at his friend, but he visibly stiffened.

"I kind of figured that out."

"So… it's up to you." Chris clutched his hands together behind his back and held back a shiver from the icy cold still sticking to his clothes.

"That's not fair." This time, Gordie did look at Chris. "This is a big deal; you can't just lay it on me like that. I know you feel like _that_… and maybe I do too, a little. But can you imagine if our parents found out? Or if Ace found out?"

"Yeah, I get it, but-"

"Jesus, Chris, we've worked so hard to get into college. We can't give that up just because we had some kind of twenty-four hour mental spell or whatever." Gordie traced nameless patterns in a small bit of snow before his feet. Chris growled at the last comment.

"This isn't because of some _mental spell_. Don't patronize my feelings, Lachance," he snapped, a small spark of fury lighting itself in him, just daring for Gordie to say anything else to piss him off.

But of course, the brunette immediately got up and walked over, standing only slightly awkwardly in the snow in front of his best friend.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that. I just meant… what if this is just a temporary thing? I mean, we're probably just sexually frustrated or some psychological crap. We don't exactly hang out with a lot of girls. Or any, really." Gordie looked over at the blonde, thankful that his flaming temper had settled. "Chris, maybe we should just… wait this out? At least for our own damn sake, I don't care that much about the town. But what if what we did wasn't right for us? I don't really want to throw away our friendship because of a moment of… whatever you call it."

"So we just go back to normal and pretend we never made out?" Chris tilted his head, practically stabbing at Gordie's forehead with his gaze.

"I guess… come on, Chris. Before all this, you were going to ask out a girl, right? And I said that I'd find myself one, too, so that we could hang out together, all four of us."

"I don't like any of the girls."

"But Chris," Gordie sighed stressfully. "I get it. I can't really think of a girl I wanna suck face with right now, either. But this is exactly what I was talking about! We can't just change our entire lives because we had an incident in the woods."

Chris stood up abruptly and brushed snow off the back of his pants. Gordie watched for a moment and quickly determined that his blonde counterpart was not angry, but more of frustrated, which was a safe emotion where Chris was concerned. So the brunette stood up and shook the white icy layer off of his legs.

"Well, I still think this is kind of ridiculous, but can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"I know you liked it, so I'm not even going to bother with any denial you feel like throwing at me. But can we… just make a pact to not date any girls for a while? Because I already told you that I like you, and that would be an asshole thing to do on your part," Chris said with a smile, but it was completely false. Gordie could see that he was truly concerned that his best friend would do something that cruel. With a more genuine smile, Gordie nodded and threw an entirely friendly arm over Chris's shoulders.

"Deal."


	5. Make Up Your Damn Minds

**Good Lord I hate Midterms. And Finals are in a month. A month! What could we possibly learn for a two hour exam in a month? **

**Anyway, I decided to clean up my story a bit. I took out the F word and the S word, so that I can theoretically rate this T instead of M. Because my fabulous friend keeps bugging me to move it to T so that more people notice it. I personally couldn't care less if no one read it, but whatever.**

**So. Yeah. Wah La.**

**Oh. Um, warning for mild language. And if you've read this far, then you already know this story is based on a homosexual relationship. If you didn't realize... you need help.**

**I don't own the kiddies, or Stand By Me or the Body. But the plot is mine.**

**Please please PLEASE point out any grammatical errors or plot errors. I hate those. Ever so much.**

**Okey dokey.**

The next few weeks absolutely sucked.

Granted, you would never notice a change in either Chris or Gordie unless you knew about the scene in the woods. Of course, Teddy _did_ know, and the absurdly false smiles and paper-thin cheerful fronts were starting to tick him off. He knew better than to actually interfere anymore than he already- though quite accidentally- had. So as he sat a few desks away from a brooding Chris, Teddy decided to not take things into his own hands. It wasn't his fault his friends were being dramatic little bitches.

"Mr. Chambers, are you even paying attention?" The teacher slapped the flat side of a wooden ruler on Chris's desk, a hair's distance from his crossed arms.

"Yes, Mrs. Peterson," he muttered, removing his arms from the danger area. Mrs. Peterson was a serious threat when she had a ruler. Or a stapler. Or any other object to smack children with, really.

"Your grades have been sinking a little, Chambers. If you don't pick it up, I will be more than glad to talk with Mr. Ellen about kicking you out of the college courses. Just because this is a general course doesn't mean that bad grades here won't affect your other classes."

Mr. Ellen was the principal, and a nice enough guy. He reluctantly had let Chris in the harder courses, mostly because he didn't do half of the stupid things his brothers had gotten suspended for. Usually, Chris didn't have to worry about being kicked out of the classes because Gordie helped him on a daily basis. Although he didn't get the near-perfect grades that Gordie did, he still passed enough to stay.

But lately, Chris hadn't been paying attention in Gordie's after school tutoring. He would scribble whatever the brunette said on whatever worksheet had been slapped down in front of him, but it was done with his mind in another universe. Gordie had gotten pissed off at him last night for zoning out too many times, and ended up walking away from the blonde, leaving him with only a third of his math homework done. His math teacher had taken one look at the page, and could spot in a second where Chris started to not know the answers. Or, more realistically, she could unknowingly see at exactly which point Gordie had stormed off.

So there sat Chris, moping like an eight year old who didn't get the action figure he had wanted so badly because he was a few pennies short.

After class, Chris slumped out into the hallway, stuffing his hands as far down in his jean pockets as possible. A large object suddenly swung itself around his neck, planting itself across his shoulders. Chris looked up to find Teddy wrapping his arm casually around the slightly taller blonde.

"Um… hi, Teddy."

"Hey Chambers, how's it hanging? It's pretty cold outside, eh? Might want to bundle up a bit extra…"

"Teddy, what do you want?" Unfortunately, for the unsuspecting Chambers kid, Teddy had decided that, while he wouldn't necessarily take matters into his own hands, he felt that he should bring the subject of Chris and Gordie up. Though, realistically, he had no reason except maybe to be a wiseass.

"Unless there's some_one_ you want to 'bundle up' with."

"Shut up, Teddy."

"What? I wasn't implying anything! For all I know, you got yourself a girl!"

"I don't-"

"Of course, her name is Gordie and she has a few extra parts down below, but-"

"Teddy, _shut up_." Chris spun around quickly and slammed Teddy into the nearby lockers for emphasis. "First off, you promised… no, you _pinky promised_ that you wouldn't mention it ever again."

"I didn't mention anything-"

"Second, there's nothing going on between me an Gordie, okay? So stop being stupid and leave it the hell alone," Chris fumed, abruptly turning to leave.

"Oh, so _that's_ why you got your panties in a bunch. Lachance isn't putting out." Teddy almost [key word there is almost] regretted having such a big mouth just then. Chris pinned him to the lockers with one hand, and reared back his other, which was already clenched in a fist. Teddy saw it coming at him in slow motion, like the special effects of one of those action movies he was so fond of. Just before impact, Chris seemed to stagger backwards. Teddy realized that this was because of a skinny brunette tugging harshly on his arm.

"Chris, what the hell are you doing?" Gordie asked, holding tightly onto his arm, because it was rather obvious that Chris still wanted to sock Teddy.

"Butt out, Gordie. He was mouthing off too much. He's gotta learn when to shut the hell up," Chris said, practically growling. Gordie stared at him in utter shock, and if Teddy wasn't so interested in the interaction between the other two, he would've seen why.

"Chris… do you realize… Christ, man. You sounded _exactly_ like your dad just now," Gordie said awkwardly, trying not to sound freaked out by the finding. Chris glared for a moment, processing the words. Then, as if Gordie had hit a light switch rather than simply said a few words, Chris sagged a bit, letting go of Teddy and nearly collapsing on the floor.

"Damn… I can't… I'm sorry, Gordie. It just… slipped." He looked over at his best friend, who was still eyeing him warily. "I really didn't mean it. It was just a subconscious thing. Like a natural reaction."

"That's what scares me," Gordie said, letting go of Chris's arm cautiously. Said blonde looked up sharply, jabbing a finger in between his two friends.

"Hey. No. I am not him. I will never _be_ him." With that, he walked away, ending the conversation at that. Gordie and Teddy exchanged bewildered glances, and followed at a safe distance behind their friend.

LALALALA

Exactly four and a half weeks after their forest experience, Chris had not made one decent conversation with his best friend. He still spoke to him, and almost as often as before, but the topics were general and stupid, like the kind you'd have with someone you just met. And Gordie, who had never before had a boring conversation with Chris in his life, was getting sick of it.

So one lovely day after school, he walked up to Chris, and dragged the boy to the old tree house without saying a word. Chris, of course, was demanding an explanation the whole way, and trying to pry the bony fingers off of his wrist.

"Gordie, seriously, let me go! What the hell is wrong with you?" The brunette finally whipped around when the reached the trunk of the tree. Although, he had turned a little to quickly and Chris backed up a few paces to avoid getting whacked.

"You've been acting like an asshole, and I'd like to know why. " Chris tried to speak, but Gordie immediately cut him off. "And before you start saying how you're perfectly fine and you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'd like to point out that we haven't had a normal conversation in over a month. Every damn day, it's about the weather, or what kind of shoes Marky Davidson is wearing, or how interesting the cafeteria menu is on a daily basis."

"Oh, come on, our conversations aren't-"

"No, listen. We haven't had a normal conversation… normal for _us_," he added at Chris's pointed look, "in forever. I don't know why you're pretending like we didn't have an entire goddamn childhood together, but you need to stop."

"Don't you _dare_ say that you have no idea why it's hard for me to talk to you. You know exactly what event happened that made everything between us different. Or should I remind you? Middle of December, snow-covered ground, taking our shirts off-"

"Shut _up_! We agreed to pretend it didn't happen! That was our agreement, and the entire point of the damn agreement was so things didn't end up like this!" Gordie frowned, having worked himself up way more than he wanted to. Chris stared at him sadly, as if watching a lost cause float away.

"We made out, Gordie. We did what only boyfriends and girlfriends are supposed to do. It is impossible to forget that. Especially since… especially since it was with you."

"Chris, please. Shut up."

"If it had been with anyone else, even a girl, hell, even _Teddy_, it wouldn't be as big of a deal. But it was with you."

"Why am I so damn special?" Gordie demanded, immediately regretting the question by Chris's look.

"You're my best friend, and I… I lo-"

"I gotta go." Without even a proper goodbye, Gordie raced away from the tree, sprinting frantically for his house. Chris didn't follow him.

LALALALA

Gordie paced awkwardly in front of Chris's window, which was inconveniently on the second story of their worn-down house. It was dark out, probably around two in the morning. Gordie had not been able to sleep, still rolling Chris's words around in his mind.

He knew that it would be impossible to forget what happened. It was slowly wearing down on him too, but he was better at hiding it than his friend. Gordie was also dragging out what he came to do; he had been standing there, in the uncomfortable cold, for nearly an hour because he had no idea what to say once he threw a rock at the window. And he had no idea how Chris would get down. He couldn't go downstairs through the front door; his old man would wake up. And they definitely couldn't have a conversation thirty vertical feet away from each other; both Mr. Chambers and Eyeball, Chris's jerk of an older brother, would wake up and go on rampage.

"If you're not gonna do anything, screw off," a voice hissed from above. Gordie peered up to find Chris's head sticking out the partly opened window. Gordie was temporarily glad to see him, until he saw the glare the teen was sending him. "Seriously, man. Before my dad wakes up," Chris whispered, glancing over his shoulder as if his dad was sneaking up on him that very minute. Gordie shifted his feet nervously.

"We need to talk, Chris." The blonde looked down at his friend calculatingly. After what felt like hours, Chris finally sighed.

"Fine. I'll be down in a minute."

Before Gordie could ask just how the other boy was planning on getting down, a long, thick rope was hurled down, dangling sturdily from inside the window. A moment later, Chris slid expertly down, not even getting rope burn. Without consulting Gordie, he strutted off away from his house. After a moment of hesitation, Gordie followed like a puppy.

"So, we need to talk," Gordie started.

"You already said that."

"I know, I just-"

"Go out with me, Gordo." Gordie stopped dead in his tracks, staring slack-jawed at his friend. Chris didn't stop walking, or even glance back at the brunette.

"Wh… _what_?"

"You heard me."

"Chris," he began, running a tired hand through his long brown hair. "You know what I'm gonna say, so I don't even know why you're asking me." Chris stopped walking, but didn't turn or say anything. Gordie sighed and glanced up at the sky. It was kind of pretty; the sky itself was blacker than black, but the few clouds scattered around were a lighter grey. Without realizing it, Gordie became fixated on the clouds, admiring how they still caught reflections of light while the sky remained dark. He didn't notice when Chris walked up to him, standing mere inches away and watching the other boy gaze at the sky. All of a sudden, Chris grabbed Gordie's chin and tilted it downward, bringing his face unbelievably close. When their lips were only a millimeter away, he gently tilted Gordie's head so that their faces would fit better. On instinct, Gordie closed his eyes and parted his lips a bit.

Chris didn't close the gap. Gordie might have, but Chris stubbornly held his jaw in place. After a split second, Gordie's brain computed the situation, and he backed up quickly.

"What the hell? Chris!"

"Just as I thought."

"What? What are you talking about?" Gordie demanded. Chris smirked, stepping right back into Gordie's personal space.

"You wanted to do it." Gordie gaped at him, bewildered, so Chris continued. "If I had kissed you, you would've kissed me back, no hesitation."

"No! It was just natural reaction!"

"Don't lie, Gordie."

"I'm not! It's just… in the dark, you look like Susie Quaker, and so my subconscious made me think I was gonna kiss her!"

"Susie Quaker."

"She's really pretty."

"So… are you calling me pretty?"

"What- no! Damnit, Chris, you're putting words into my mouth." Gordie paced away, then turned and stomped back over. "Listen, I came here to talk to you. I won't go out with you. I'm not ever going to. I'm not like that, okay? I have a crush on Susie. I'm going to ask her out. Don't you give me that look, it's been over a month, and you need to move on. Chris, what we did was stupid, and I don't plan on doing it again. Look, Chelsea McDoggs likes you. I heard that she wants you to ask her to the dance in two weeks. I'll take Susie; you take Chelsea. But this has to stop. You need to get out of whatever fantasy world you're stuck in, and realize that we're not gay!"

"What if I am?"

"Would you go out with Teddy?"

"Teddy isn't gay. Is he?"

"No, he's not, but it's a hypothetical question. If you were what you say you are, then you'd like guys. What about Jason? Or Mikey? Or one of the Richardson twins?" Gordie purposefully started naming some of the best looking boys in their year, knowing [or at least, hoping] that Chris wouldn't like any of them like that. Chris sighed, and sat down on the grass. He began to fiddle with his shoelace, struggling to find something to say.

"No," he finally stated, defeated. "I don't like any of them. I'm not even attracted to them." Gordie kneeled next to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"See? You don't like boys. Not like that." Before he could continue, Chris tugged the hand that was on his shoulder, sending Gordie sprawling on the blonde's chest. "Chris! Stop it."

"No," he said stubbornly, wrapping a large hand around the brunette's neck and heaving him down, crashing their mouths harshly together. Gordie, a little less shocked than a few moments ago, didn't close his eyes or open his lips. Instead, he gazed through half-lidded eyes down at his friend, emotions passing over his face rapidly. The most prominent one was hopelessness Chris, realizing the other's lack of cooperation, pulled back a bit. "Come on, Gordie. You want this just as much as I do."

Gordie shook his head slightly, not daring to open his mouth for even a response. Chris growled, and leaned forward to bite at Gordie's bottom lip. The brunette, understandably, yelped and Chris used the moment of shock to push his tongue in and fuse their mouths together. Gordie considered biting at Chris's tongue, which would've been reasonable considering he had just had his lip nearly bit off, but he didn't.

Because damnit, it felt really freaking nice.


	6. Teddy is an Idiot

**Okay. I wrote this around four in the morning, because I have insomnia. Not even kidding. So. Wah la.**

**Alrighty. Don't own Stand By Me or The Body or the characters. Just the stupid crap I put them through.**

**Warnings for language. But it's not that bad.**

**Lemme know if there's any spelling or grammatical errors. **

**Irrational messages or flames will be ignored. But honestly, if you're a homophobe and you've read this far, what the hell is wrong with you?**

**Um. Review if you'd like. No pressure.**

**To the story!**

Gordie was giving him the silent treatment.

Actually, he was giving both Chris _and_ Teddy the silent treatment. And really any one else who tried to ask why he was acting like such a little bitch.

Teddy, who absolutely _hated_ being ignored for long periods of time, decided to, once again, interfere. It had not yet sunk in that most of his interference was unwelcome and resulted in awkward silences between Gordie and Chris. So that would be why, about four days into Gordie's cold shoulder deal, he was stalking said brunette and following him back from his 'date' with that Susie girl he theoretically had a crush on. Teddy was currently sneaking from bush to bush, watching the thinner teenager sulk as he slowly made his way home.

"Teddy, I know you're following me, and if you don't stop it I'm going to stab you in the face with a tree branch." Teddy cursed and stood up from his crouching position, and quickly dashed to catch up with the other boy.

"At least I got you to talk to me," he said, grinning stupidly. Gordie continued walking, but didn't say anything else. "Hey. No, you gotta talk to me now. Gordie!" But the youngest Lachance kid kept walking, and persistently ignored Teddy. Now, when Teddy is ignored, instead of trying to confront the other person like a normal human being, he says something he knows the other person will react to. Which is why he decided to say something super duper stupid. And so he said the first [and stupidest] thing on his mind. "I made out with Chris!"

Gordie's response was instantaneous. He stopped dead in his tracks, whipped around abruptly, and managed to lose every bit of color in his face.

"What did you say?" Gordie's voice was a hollow growl, and if Teddy wasn't busy realizing exactly what he had just exclaimed, he would've probably been an itsy bitsy bit afraid.

"I said I made out with Chris," he replied, more to himself than to the other boy. Teddy refocused on Gordie when he could hear the kid's teeth actually grinding together. "I… but… it was just to get your attention!"

"You made out with Chris to get my attention?" Teddy knew he was doing badly, because not only had the color returned to Gordie's face, but it seemed as if someone was slowly pouring bright red paint into his cheeks. The kid was pissed.

"No! That's not what I meant! I just _said_ that to get your attention! I didn't kiss Chris!" Teddy almost grinned when Gordie let out a breath of relief. "But wait, why do you care? It's not like you're gay, right?"

"Let's get one thing straight-"

"Which you are not."

"I am not a homosexual," Gordie continued, ignoring Teddy's comment. "I do not have feelings for Chris beyond friendship. I am dating Susie. Chris's sexuality is not my problem, and I can't help it nor do I care if he decides he likes boys. As of right now, I don't want to talk to him. Or you. Now leave me the hell alone." With that, he stormed off, but this time Teddy didn't follow him.

Instead, he sighed, and decided to give up on Gordie for the moment. But with a devilishly handsome smirk, he decided to go find this Susie Quaker, and take her off of Gordie's hands. Besides, Teddy needed a date for the upcoming dance.

LALALALALALALA

"What do you _mean_, you're dating Teddy?" Gordie demanded. He had been avoiding nearly everyone successfully for exactly thirteen hours after he had walked off on Teddy. But then his supposed girlfriend decided to inform him that, she was not _his_ girlfriend, but actually dating Teddy himself! "We just went on a date yesterday!"

"Well, Teddy kind of came to my house afterwards, and he was so nice and polite… I'm sorry, Gordie! Really I am," the girl insisted, clutching her thin hands to her chest dramatically. Gordie tried to process what exactly he had been told, but it was taking him a bit. "Listen, you're a great guy, and you'll totally be able to find a date for the dance! You still have over a week," she prodded, as if reminding him of his time would make the situation all better. Gordie stared at her.

"You are breaking up with me. A _day_ after our first date. To go out with one of my friends."

"You're not friends anymore, though, right? I mean, Teddy said that you two haven't spoken in ages." Susie tilted her head in confusion. Gordie decided that he couldn't face this right now, and quickly plastered on a huge, completely fraudulent smile.

"Yeah, I guess. You're right, I still have nine days left to find a date. No hard feelings, eh? See you around!" Before Susie could reply, he turned around and headed for the nearest bathroom to sulk.

Of course, once he slammed the door behind him and began slapping chilled water on his face from one of the rusty old sinks, the bathroom door opened to reveal Chris. Gordie glanced up, but upon seeing who it was, quickly occupied himself with the water and didn't acknowledge Chris's presence.

"I… saw you come in here," the blonde started.

Nothing.

"Listen, I heard… I mean, I overheard Susie and you."

No response.

"I'm sorry, Gordo. Teddy is a jackass."

Quiet.

"Christ, Gordie, will you talk to me? I'm trying like hell here to have a normal conversation with you, like you freaking wanted, and you're pretending like I don't exist! It's been days since you last even _looked_ at me! Just… say something!"

"Teddy is an asshole. Are we done?" Gordie turned off the sink, but didn't look at Chris. He chose to, instead, glare at himself in the cracked mirror. Chris stared for a moment, then turned and locked the bathroom door.

"No. We're not done." He leaned against the door, as if warning Gordie that to get out of the bathroom, he'd have to get through Chris first. "I wanna talk to you."

"That's nice."

"You've been avoiding me. Again." When Gordie opened his mouth to butt in, Chris sent him a glare that could silence the devil himself. "Yes, you have. And I'm not going to even ask why, because you and I both know exactly what made you act like this. And I gotta say, even if you didn't want to go out with me- which you _do_, and don't you _dare_ deny it- you didn't have to be a total bastard about it and ignore me."

"I did it to stop whatever the hell you wanted to start between us. And it worked. So I see no problem. Now move, Chambers." Gordie advanced toward the door, but Chris didn't budge. "Get the hell out of the way."

"Why are you being so stubborn?"

"Me? You're the one in front of the damn door!"

"You don't seem too shaken up about Susie dumping you."

"We had one date; it's not like we were long-time lovers. Not that big of a deal."

"Teddy told me."

"What?" Gordie looked genuinely confused.

"He told me about how you reacted. You know, when he said he and I made out," Chris finished. Gordie's mouth moved like a fish for a few moments, and if Chris hadn't been in such a serious mood, he would've smirked.

"So? I just thought it was gross!" Gordie tried to pry the blonde boy away from the door, but alas, Chris was thicker and stronger and felt like a hippopotamus. "Would you move already?" Chris moved, but he snatched Gordie by the shoulders and slammed him into the door, switching their positions. With Gordie's arms successfully pinned to his sides against the thick wooden door, Chris leaned in towards his ear.

"Liar." The breath that had come out with the word brushed against Gordie's neck and made him shiver. "You _hated_ the idea of him kissing me, didn't you? You probably even felt like you were going to throw up," Chris taunted. Gordie clenched his eyes shut, because he knew that if Chris looked in them, he would be able to see that he was so incredibly right. "I bet you even pictured me and him making out. My tongue in his mouth, his hands up my shirt…"

Gordie, who would either vomit at the image of his two 'friends' swapping spit or lose all control of his body as it melted due to Chris's rough voice, chose to go into panic mode. He did the only thing he could do, with his arms trapped and his face an inch away from Chris's.

He kneed the jerk in the crotch, unlocked the door as soon as Chris doubled over and released him, and made a mad dash for his class.

Which, thanks to that asshole, he was now ten minutes late for.


	7. Finally Getting Somewhere Kind of

**My stupid kitty keeps chewing on the edges of my computer screen. My $4,000 Macbook Pro computer screen. Goddamn kitty.**

**Um... I don't own Stand By Me or the characters, but I do own this awkward story I shoved them into. **

**Rated for language, though it isn't that... bad language-y. What's the word for that. I don't know.**

**Please let me know if there are any errors of any kind... um, and flames [though, surprisingly, I have received none thus far] will have large, misshaped rocks thrown repeatedly at them.**

**Uh... enjoy? Review if you'd like, but it's all good if you don't. Although I don't ask for reviews, I do read every single one [on every story, as several of my reviewers have reviewed more than one of my stories, which always makes me feel super duper] and highly appreciate them. Also, they remind me that I actually _have_ a story I need to update. In fact, I completely forgot this website existed until someone reviewed something like two days ago. Whoopsie.**

**Ready... go.**

Okay, so maybe Gordie felt a tiny bit sorry for crushing Chris's man-parts. But really, what part of Chris's mind gave the go-ahead to pin him to a goddamn door and try to… well, do _things_? As Gordie shifted the thick stack of textbooks in his arms awkwardly, trying not to dawdle too much on his way home, he mentally reassured himself that he hadn't overreacted. Much.

He also had completely planned it out so that he wouldn't cross paths with Chris for the rest of the day, but he quickly discovered that this was unnecessary. Apparently, Chris had bolted from the school grounds right after the bathroom incident, and managed to earn himself six detentions for skipping.

Gordie stopped dead in his tracks. Usually, when Chris got detentions, he was in class. But… he wasn't this time, and that meant that the teachers would have to call home to inform him. Meaning that chances were, Chris's father, who practically _lived_ on severely disciplining his children, would pick up the telephone.

And six detentions… _six damn detentions_… Gordie remembered the first time Chris ever got a detention. His father had scolded him, and after a couple of cheap beers with dinner, whipped out his thickest, stiffest belt. Chris had come to school the next day, unable to sit back in his chairs because of the bruises.

Gordie felt nauseous at the image his brain so kindly supplied of what Chris's back would look like after tonight. With that horrifying image in his mind [although, it was slightly exaggerated because of his panicking imagination, but not by much] he forgot all about avoiding Chris and dashed off in the direction of the Chambers residence.

He nearly dropped all of his books along the way, and accidently tripped and scraped up his knee a bit in a pothole, but managed to make it to the house in only a few minutes. Gordie bent over, clutching his knees and breathing heavily, books carelessly tossed in a shabby pile on the concrete. He stood there somewhat awkwardly on the sidewalk in front of the yard.

"Gordie?" The brunette looked up, trying to focus on where the voice had come from. It definitely sounded like Chris, but he couldn't see anyone. One of the screens on the upstairs windows was suddenly raised, and Chris's head poked out.

"Chris," Gordie gasped, still trying to regulate his breathing.

"Wh… what are you doing here?"

"I… you have detention."

"What?"

"You…" Gordie finally straightened his posture, and began crossing the yard to get a closer look at Chris. "You have detention. Six, actually."

"Oh."

"I…"

"Um, thanks for telling me, I guess… but don't the teachers usually call if the student isn't there?" Chris leaned one elbow on his windowsill, tilting his head in confusion.

"Well, yeah, but I… is your dad home?" Chris gazed at Gordie for a moment, not offering an answer. Suddenly, he shut the screen with a snap and disappeared. "What- Chris, you asshole! I was talking to you!" Gordie stood there, pouting at the empty window, until the front door opened and Chris walked over to him cautiously. The brunette crossed his arms and jutted out a hip, increasing the effect of his pout. "Way to not answer me. Jackass."

"You came here to tell me that I have detentions."

"Yeah."

"And you want to know if my dad is home."

"… Yeah."

"Gordie…" Chris paused, as if unsure whether or not to voice his thought. "Did you come to try to prevent my dad from finding out?"

"I…"

"Did… you want to stop him from beating me?" Chris leaned forward, trying to decipher Gordie's answer from his expression. Gordie, on the other hand, was mentally freaking out and desperately trying to come up with an excuse that didn't make it sound like he cared so much. The way Chris put it, Gordie's excessive concern made him sound like a worried girlfriend.

"It's not like that."

"So you don't care if he beats me?" From his tone, Gordie could tell that the other boy didn't believe him. But Gordie was stubborn. Annoyingly so, at times.

"Nope."

"Then why are you here?"

"Th… the teachers wanted me to tell you about the detentions. I was just wondering if your dad was home... out of polite conversation. Don't think too much on it, Chambers," Gordie finally sputtered, clearly lying out of his ass. Chris kept a very straight face.

"He did."

"What?"

"The teachers already called. My dad beat the hell out of me the second he hung up the telephone," Chris said blandly, watching Gordie closely. Gordie's previously nonchalant expression disappeared in a split second, and was immediately replaced by a mix of fear, regret, and the highest level of concern.

"What!" He grabbed Chris's arm and whirled him around, grabbing the hem of his shirt. "Are you okay? I swear to god I ran here as soon as I could, after I realized that your dad might pick up the phone…" Gordie trailed off as he lifted the shirt to find… nothing but old bruises and gashes. They were healed a bit, and clearly from at least three or four days ago. "But… you said…"

"I lied," Chris replied easily, pulling Gordie's hand away from his shirt and tugging the brunette close. Gordie might've protested, had he not been so utterly confused. "But so did you."

"No I didn't," Gordie automatically insisted. Chris ignored the protest.

"You do care what happens to me, even after you tried to break my balls earlier." Chris grinned at the flush that swarmed over Gordie's face. "Gordie, I know you like me. Why are you being so goddamn stubborn about it?"

At this point, the concept that Chris had lied and was not recently beaten had finally sunk in. The fury from that, plus the pent up frustration and shattering dam of denial created a mental explosion. Which, consequently, turned into a verbal explosion.

"Why am I being so stubborn? Why the hell wouldn't I be stubborn? Let's see… I started getting stupid tingly feelings whenever I accidently touched you, and the goddamn butterflies have not stopped since… I don't even remember when! And I made out with my best friend, who _will not let it go_. Our other friend freaking walked in on us, and now is utterly determined to get us to say we're gay. You… _you_ want to become a gay couple in a small town with more than one legitimate gang who would just _love_ to have a reason to slaughter us, and since homosexuality is completely looked down upon in this stupid Catholic-filled town, it would be like handing ourselves over and saying 'beat us with lead pipes and metal baseball bats'!"

"Oh, come on, I never said I wanted to _tell_ anybody, I just-"

"And! And the worst part is, I actually… I actually _like_ you in that way, and it's freaking killing me! I tried to avoid you, really I did, and I tried to be 'just friends', but that didn't work either… I can't _do _this!"

"Gord-"

"Because every goddamn time I look at you, I just want to push you into the nearest closet or small, confined room, and… and…"  
"Beat me up?" Chris knew it wasn't what Gordie wanted to say, and he _knew_ how much trouble the brunette was having with admitting what he really did want. Gordie glared at him.

"You know what I mean."

"Nope."

"I… I like you, Chris." Chris _almost_ made a remark about how that wasn't what Gordie had been saying earlier, but the vulnerable look on the slimmer boy's face made him take what he was given.

"I like you too, Gordie."

"But I don't think we can do this," he added, rubbing his upper arms and looking away. Chris almost started desperately demanding why, but took a mental breath.

"Because you're afraid?"

"Yeah."

"Of getting caught?" Gordie glanced back at him, with a look of almost realization.

"Well, yes, a little, but… more afraid of ruining everything about us. You're my best friend, Chris, and as much as I want to be more…"

"Gordie, you know that isn't a good excuse. In fact, it should be a reason to become more."

"What if it doesn't work?" Chris literally jumped a bit at Gordie's sudden desperate tone. "I can't not have you as a friend! Who the hell else would I have? My parents ignore me, Teddy's freaking psycho, I don't talk to anyone else, and no girls like me! I… I can't…" His breath was shaky, and his body was trembling a bit; Chris immediately felt the need to comfort him and wrapped his arms around his friend, clutching him tightly.

"Gordie, listen. I know you're scared. I'm scared, too." Gordie peeked up at him questioningly. "Yeah, I'm scared. I'm scared that the Cobras will put a hit on us. I'm scared that we'll be kicked out of town. I'm scared that my dad will finally get wasted enough and finish me off. I'm scared that we'll be on the run, with no money or way of ever having a good life." He pushed Gordie away a bit, but clamped onto his shoulders tightly, holding him at arm's length. "But most of all, I'm scared that you won't give this a chance, and that you'll just ignore the fact that we've got something here. I'm scared that you'll leave me, and stop talking to me, and just… forget all about me."

Gordie didn't say anything for a few moments.

"You know, if I wasn't so goddamn emotional right now, that would've been a really corny speech," he muttered. Chris looked crushed for a moment, until he realized that Gordie was trying to break the soppy tension.

"It could've been worse. I could've gotten down on one knee and loudly begged you to give me a chance. Or I could've made huge posters declaring my undying love and glued them all over school."

"Love?" Chris paused, suddenly blushing and losing all confidence evident in his earlier argument.

"Um… I meant… crush…" It actually _had_ just been a slip. Chris hadn't been planning to use the overly emotional L word. But that didn't mean it wasn't accurate.

"Right," Gordie agreed instantly, not wanting to make the atmosphere anymore awkward than it already was.

"So…"  
"So…" Gordie repeated. Chris rolled his eyes.

"_So_, what's your decision?"

"Wh- I have to decide right now?" Gordie suddenly looked panicked. Well, it was a sudden look change, although Chris had seen Gordie's 'panic' face at least ten times during the conversation.

"That would be nice."

"I… I need time to figure this out…"

"But I don't want to wait anymore," Chris said, putting on his best 'aw look at how adorably sad I am, now feel incredibly bad for me and give me what I want' face. Gordie frowned.

"Give me until the dance."

"The… dance?"

"It's in nine days. Go to the dance; I'll be there too. I'll give you my answer then." Chris grinned at him. "Chris, it might be a 'no'. Please don't get your hopes up too much."

"So… does this mean you're my date to the dance?" Chris would've grinned but Gordie jabbed him sharply in the ribs with three bony fingers, making the thicker boy breathe out a sharp 'oof'.

"This _means_ that I will see you at the dance. You're not my date. I might even bring a girl, because I only need to see you for a few moments to give you my answer. And if you try to do anything weird before that, I'm skipping the dance and hiring a Cobra to beat the crap out of you."

"Sounds like a date to me," Chris smirked, dodging another jab.


	8. The Photo to Ruin It All

**I exist.**

**I am really, truly, kind of sorry for not updating for three months. But I am stubborn and so... I took a writing break. **

**Anyway.**

**Rated for swearing, but it's not bad. I don't rate for homosexuality, blah, blah, blah, same speech I give every chapter.**

**I don't own Stand By Me, The Body, or any of the characters. I just twist their worlds into gay little wonderlands for the amusement of others. **

**Correct me on any grammatical or spelling errors or any big f-ups in the plot line. Thank you.**

Chris was going to punch something. His next-door neighbor's rusted old mailbox looked like a good candidate, except that his neighbor had a tattletale kid and Chris would definitely get a whipping from his father later.

He sat huddled on his bed, curled into a ball as he looked through a bent shoebox. He didn't have many keepsakes, but what he did have, he kept in the box in a secret cubby under his bed frame. Inside the box he stashed a few dented soda pop bottle caps, three rare baseball cards and two that were common, and a thick stack of photographs.

He lifted the photograph stack and settled down more comfortably on his bed. The first picture made him smile instantly. A tiny Vern was sitting in the middle of a large mud puddle, grinning like he'd just won the candy lottery. Teddy was off to his right, making puny pudgy guns with his fingers and shooting at something in the distance. Chris's smile nearly dropped when he saw the other half of the gang, but he kept it there through pure willpower. Gordie was so tiny… still skinny as all hell, but very petite, too. Chris wasn't that big, but in the picture, just off to Vern's left, the two of them were tackling each other in the puddle, covered in mud and clearly laughing. Chris looked enormous next to Gordie, or maybe the latter just looked small. He stared at the photo for a bit. They had to be about six in that picture, but the way he and Gordie looked… it was like there was nothing else going on in the world except the two of them.

He shook his head and mentally slapped himself. _Kids don't get feelings like that,_ he thought pointedly. _We were just easily entertained by shoving each other into liquid dirt._ Chris carefully flicked the picture back into his box, face down.

The next picture made him burst out laughing. It was of Eyeball, or Gregory, as he had gone by when this picture had been taken, must've been around ten, and Chris, who had been around three or four years old. They had both been at a cousin's birthday party, and of course, Gregory, being the troublemaker he always had been, started a food fight with the cake. Now, Chris, being just a little kid, didn't understand the concept of releasing the cake to throw it. Instead, he had simply punched Gregory in the eye with a fistful of chocolate cake, giving the poor Chambers kid a black eye and a face full of frosting.

Chris placed that picture in the box as well. The next two pictures were of him, Gordie, Teddy and Vern as kids, and after basking in the memories of each for a moment, he tucked those back in the box as well. He flipped through some more, finding old, tattered pictures of him and Eyeball, Teddy and him, and other old, nearly forgotten friends and relatives.

The second to last picture made him stop. This particular photograph had been the reason he took out the box in the first place. This picture had meant a decent amount to him before, but after recent events, it was the most priceless object in his life.

He and Gordie were sitting next to each other, and Chris's arm was outstretched, holding the camera to face them. It had been his mom's Kodak Brownie 127, a fancy new camera for the mid-fifties. Chris had his arm wrapped around Gordie, and the brunette was giggling. His eyes were closed and his nose was scrunched up, but his smile was wide and bright. Chris looked down at the old photo, feeling the heat pool in his cheeks as he observed the rest of it. Right before he clicked the shutter button, Chris had turned and pressed his lips to the side of Gordie's head. The brunette didn't notice, and the picture Chris held now showed a happy, oblivious Gordie getting pecked unknowingly by his best friend.

Chris had kept the camera until the roll of film was filled, and had it developed himself. Though his mother tried to take back the photographs, he had snatched this one right out of the pile before anyone could see it.

The photo was well worn and had a tiny bit of one of the corners torn off, but it was in pretty good shape otherwise. Chris hadn't seen this photo as more than just another good memory up until recently. But now it meant more, and he was hoping to gain some inspiration from it to convince Gordie.

* * *

After several hours of absolutely no progress, Chris ended up falling asleep on his bed, accidently crumpling one corner of his secret box in the process. Unfortunately, this was possibly the worst mistake he could ever make in his life, for none other than Eyeball himself waltzed lazily into his little brother's room about half an hour later. Of course, the first thing he thought to do upon seeing Chris asleep was to draw on his face or destroy some of his stuff. However, when the older Chambers kid crept up to the bed, he noticed the picture clutched possessively in Chris's hand. Being the intrusive person he was, Eyeball carefully tugged the photo from his brother's hand and straightened it out for inspection.

He nearly dropped the damn thing when he realized what it was exactly he was looking at. Quickly clapping a thick palm to his mouth to stifle the laughter he just _knew_ was on its way, he peeked at his brother quickly to ensure he was still asleep and then dashed from the room, locking himself in his own lair to figure out what exactly he should do with this rare, precious blackmail material.

* * *

A loud crash was heard from Chris's room about an hour later, when he finally woke up, noticed his box was still out, and realized his most important [and utterly _private_] picture was nowhere to be seen. At first he had figured that maybe the picture was tangled in either his clothes or his blanket, after having accidently slept on it and shifted around quite a bit during that time. But he quickly came to understand that the stupid picture just wasn't _there_.

An abrupt trio of knocks on his doorframe made him jump, and he quickly spun around to find his older brother, Eyeball, leaning against the doorway in an annoyingly cocky fashion.

"What?" Chris asked pointedly, thanking all that was holy that his voice neither cracked nor showed any sign of panic. Eyeball smirked and flicked out his wrist, showing the back of his hand to Chris, fingertips pointed at the ceiling. Chris almost asked what the hell that was supposed to mean, but the words got stuck and nearly gagged him when he realized exactly what Eyeball did it for.

Lodged between the older boy's middle and pointer finger was his picture. _His picture_.

Neither spoke for a full minute, until Chris finally attempted to vomit up words.

"Wha… how…"

"I found this interesting little thing and just _couldn't_ say no to it." Eyeball nearly squealed at the priceless look on his little brother's face. "Cute picture I found here. Does Lachance let you kiss him in other places, too?"

"That… give it back," Chris demanded softly, still working on regaining his ability to speak. Eyeball laughed a bit, flicking the picture between his fingers and humming thoughtfully.

"Well, let's think about this. I can either show this to Lachance, but that little homo would probably cream his pants over this." Eyeball didn't notice the blush that quickly prowled Chris's face. "Or I could give it back, and no one would really believe it if I told them about it. Plus, you'd probably destroy it or hide it before anyone else could see."

"Eyeball…"

"_Or_, I _could_ have fun with this. What do you think? I bet there are _tons_ of things you would do just so Ace doesn't get a hold of this." Chris visibly paled and suddenly felt the urge to puke. He took a deep breath and mentally calmed his stomach.

"What do you want?"

"Let me think. I really don't need anything _personally_, except maybe some good long-term entertainment," Eyeball chortled, rubbing at his chin in fake thought and switching which side of the door frame he was leaning on. "For a picture this… special… you know, I haven't forgotten about how you ruined the Cobras' chance at making it big with that whole dead body deal." He fingered one corner of the picture, looking at the admittedly cute image. "You and your friends ruined my chance at being known, so now I'm going to ruin something of yours. Call Lachance, and-"

"No! Don't get him involved in this. I'll do anything else… just… just _don't make me hurt him_."

"Goddamn, you sound like you and him are fricken boyfriends or something," Eyeball smirked, completely joking. But at the millisecond of fear on Chris's face, almost immediately covered up by indifference, he gaped. "Wait… wait, you- you _are_ like… damn… this is _way_ too easy!"

"It's- it's not like that! I never said-"

"Chris, I may be stupid most of the time, but the look on your face when I said that… well now I just _have_ to go through with my idea." Eyeball held the photo at arm's length, facing his little brother. "Call that homo right now. Tell him you've found someone else, and that he never meant that much to you anyway." Chris didn't move for a full thirty seconds, and Eyeball became impatient. "Well?"

"I would _never_ do that. Even if what you said was true, which it's not!"

"Then I hope you and your little boyfriend get some pretty goddamn good bodyguards, because Ace would only need this little sucker to want to have you both dead. He still wants to have both of your throats cut over that Brower kid. Have fun with that," he mocked, turning to leave. Chris realized how true his brother's prediction of Ace's actions was, and quickly made a decision.

"Wait!" His brother paused, but didn't turn around. "I'll… I'll call Gordie. Just- just _don't_ show Ace," Chris pleaded, desperately blocking away what consequences would come with this phone call.

"After you, Princess," Eyeball snickered, letting Chris slowly walk past him to the family living room, where the telephone was. The younger boy stared at the device for a moment until Eyeball growled impatiently and picked up the phone himself, shoving it into his brother's hands. Chris cradled it for a split second, and then without letting his brain think anymore about the situation, he pressed the numbers for Gordie's phone in with one finger. Eyeball, showing another rare streak of intelligence, pulled Chris and the phone closer so he could hear the conversation as well. After two rings, Gordie picked up.

"Hullo?"

"Gordie… it's Chris."

"Wha… um, hi. I thought I told you to give me until the dance." Chris closed his eyes at the nervousness evident in his best friend's voice. He knew that it wasn't from actually talking to Chris, but more from not knowing what to say now that they established a mutual liking.

"It…" He glanced at his brother, who glared and slid the picture from his pocket to remind Chris. "It's not about that. Listen Gordie… I…"

"Tell him you've found someone else," Eyeball hissed, making sure Gordie didn't hear him. Chris squeezed his eyes shut, pressing back tears that were close to surfacing.

"I found someone else," the younger Chambers kid said robotically. There was a long pause, as he waited for Gordie's response.

"What?" Chris nearly broke down in tears when he heard the shocked hurt in Gordie's voice.

"Say you're in love with someone else, and that you don't want to see him anymore," Eyeball muttered. Chris bit his lip, making a droplet of blood seep out.

"I… I'm in love with someone else and… I don't want to see you anymore. I'm sorry, Gordie," he added, although it was truly meant for lying to the poor brunette. Unfortunately, Gordie thought the apology was for breaking his heart.

"But... but I thought…" Gordie sounded so desperate that it made something in Chris snap. He was furious, mostly with himself for not having the guts to stick up to his brother. He was furious with his brother, who he couldn't believe would make him do something to the one person who truly mattered. And he, though completely irrationally, was furious at Gordie, who was unintentionally dragging out this heartbreaking phone call.

"You thought wrong," Chris growled. "Get it through your head, Lachance. I don't want to be with you. Sorry for confusing your gay little mind, but-" Chris stopped when he heard a soft sob, a sharp click, and the distinctive dial tone that told him Gordie had hung up on him.

"Jesus," Eyeball breathed after a minute. He looked down at his brother, who looked so absolutely crushed. Eyeball felt like he had been punished enough, and that this wasn't as humorous as he thought it would be, and tossed the picture at the empty phone cradle. Chris still hadn't hung up the phone; instead he stood there, slightly trembling, staring at the ground as if he was using all his willpower to not cry. Eyeball glared at his weakling little brother, and then turned and left, slamming the front door behind him. As soon as Chris heard his brother's car start up and roll down the driveway and away from the house, he collapsed to his knees, dropped the phone and held his face in his hands, letting himself cry his heart out.


	9. The Dance AKA Teddy Gets Fed Up

**... Hello.**

**I am very... very... _very_ sorry for not updating for many months. I kind of... forgot that I didn't update. Like, a couple of times.**

**But here's a chapter! Yay!**

**This story is pretty much almost over.**

**I can't guarantee a number of how many chapters are left, because I kind of just write them as they come.**

**And I totally just wrote *this* one over the course of this weekend.**

**SO HERE IT IS.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stand By Me or the characters.**

**Warnings: ... maybe a couple bad words, but nothing terrible. And Teddy gets pissed off :D That's always fun.**

**Reviews are lovely, but not demanded.**

**Let me know if you find errors. **

**Flamers can be stupid elsewhere. Although I actually haven't had any. Isn't that interesting? Perhaps it's because I tend to be blunt and do not tolerate idiotic, ignorant comments. Hmm.**

**Read on.**

He almost didn't go to school the next day. Well, actually Chris had been hoping to just not attend school for the rest of his life. Maybe he could become a traveling hobo, hitching rides on slow trains and sneaking through cornfields and vegetable patches for food. He could get used to a life like that.

Or maybe he'd just sit in _front_ of the train, just sit there and wait patiently for it to take his life. That could work, too.

But his father came home that very night after Eyeball's little stunt, and announced with absolute fury that his boss had fired him for fighting with another worker. Meaning that he'd be at home for the full span of the days until he found some other meager job to put dinner on the table. Chris quickly decided that being stuck at home with a pissed off dad was worse than risking seeing his [ex?] best friend at school.

So the very next day after shredding Gordie's heart to bits, he found himself walking dazedly from class to class.

Gordie, as it turned out, wasn't there. Chris was rather thankful for this, but he tried not to think about _why_ the brunette wasn't there. It made him feel like throwing up when he thought about how he hurt Gordie enough for him to skip school.

Gordie didn't turn up the next day, either. In fact, the next time he actually came to classes was the day of the dance. But Chris knew that the only reason he probably came in was because of the school rule that stated that students absent on the day of the dance couldn't attend.

So there stood Chris, shaking, pale, and kind of completely gaping at his childhood friend when he saw him for the first time in days at lunch. Gordie was sitting at a table with Teddy and a pair of girls, one next to each boy. The girl next to Gordie was pretty and petite, leaning into him fully and completely engrossed in feeding the brunette his sandwich in tiny little torn off bits.

The girl next to Teddy was watching the pair dreamily, like having a chick stuff scraps of peanut butter and bread into a guy's mouth was the most romantic thing ever. Chris felt utterly miserable, but had to struggle to tear his eyes away from the scene. He glanced around for somewhere else to sit, eventually spotting a girl named Anna that he knew. Sighing, the sandy-blonde haired boy dragged his feet along the tiled floor, slowly making his way towards the girl.

"Oh- Chris! Hi!" Anna immediately greeted cheerfully, automatically scooting over on the bench so that Chris had a decent sized space to sit.

"Hey, Anna," he said with a fake smile, occupying the new space on the bench and uncurling the opening of his brown lunch bag. He pulled out a sandwich and a bottle of root beer, but didn't actually make a move to consume either. Anna peered at him curiously for a moment, but then broke out into a grin.

"So, Chris… who's your date to the dance?" Chris cursed mentally.

"I… I dunno if I'm going," he forced out casually, pointedly ignoring the girl's gaze.

"Oh, why not? You should! You know," she added in a hushed tone, "There's a new girl in my class. Melanie told Jessie, who told Emily, who told Victoria, who told Allan's sister that she has an eye for you." Anna sat up triumphantly, staring proudly at Chris as if expecting him to break out into cheers over that. Chris kind of just stared at some point in the air between his root beer and Anna's face. He physically flinched when his eyes flicked an inch to the left and he caught sight of Gordie and the other girl again.

In reality, Chris had been completely avoiding the thought of the dance. Ever since the phone call that ruined his friendship, he kind of figured that all hopes with Gordie disintegrated beyond repair.

And truth be told, he really didn't want to attend the stupid dance. Not only did he have no hope in making things right with Gordie, but now… well, it looked like the petite brunette already had a date. Chris didn't think he could handle watching this girl hanging off of his friend all night. Ex-friend. Whatever.

But at the same time, he couldn't _not_ go. A small part of him was convinced that the girl over there next to Gordie was all a show by the brunette. He had been hurt by Chris, right? So hurt that he didn't show up to school for days. There was no way he was over Chris and had a new person to crush after already. Right?

That itty bit of hope was only presented by a teeny, tiny part of Chris's mind, but it was a big enough argument to make him need to go to the dance.

He glanced at Anna, who was still staring at him expectantly.

"What, uh… what's her name?" he asked. Anna grinned.

It turns out that the girl- Marianne was her name- was quite attractive. Chris gaped a little as she greeted him at the front door of the dance. Chris was decked out in his Sunday best, with black slacks, freshly polished black shoes and a light blue button down that brought out his eyes fantastically. Marianne was a tall, shapely girl who perhaps had a little too much makeup on, but was pretty nonetheless.

Chris actually had to force himself not to keep goggling at her dark red dress that was quite clingy for a small religious town.

They entered the dance hand in hand, immediately pausing at the sight before them.

It was like a movie, really. Well, one of those movies with an awkward school dance where everyone was too nervous to actually _dance_. The boys were sprawled out in chairs all along the left side of the room, some gathered in small groups and speaking to each other in whispered tones. The girls were alls standing around on the right half of the room, giggling loudly with their friends and peeking longingly at the boys. Marianne squeezed Chris's hand a little, and he glanced at her.

"Want to dance?" she asked, leaning into his shoulder a little. He hated to admit it, but he kind of got a couple of butterflies at that. Not nearly as many as when he touched… _other_ people… but still, he hadn't felt tingly over a girl since this whole thing with Gordie began. "Maybe if we dance, every one else will join in," she added, gazing around the room. Chris smiled a little at that. If he wasn't still irreversibly hung up on Gordie, this girl… well, he could see himself with her.

"Yeah. Yeah, let's go," he agreed, pulling her to the floor and immediately placing his hands on her hips. Marianne wrapped her palms around his neck and tangled a few of her fingers in his hair, shooting meaningful looks at their hesitant classmates.

Not surprisingly, Teddy was the first boy to walk across the room and grab a girl. Chris noted absentmindedly that it was the same girl who had sat next to him at lunch that day. They walked over next to Chris and Marianne and began to dance along side them. Chris and Teddy locked eyes and, although Teddy eyed Marianne appreciatively, he glared at Chris and mouthed, '_fix it_'.

Two little words, and he wouldn't have even caught them if he had blinked, but they stabbed at his heart worse than Teddy screaming at him would have. Because _fix it_ meant that there was something he actually could fix. Which, against every fiber of hope in his being, Chris knew wasn't the case.

But maybe if Teddy thought that he _could_ fix this whole deal… Teddy, who had sort of replaced Chris as Gordie's best friend… maybe there was a chance?

Gordie was a very good pretender. He could fake _tons_ of emotions, which especially came in handy when any of the numerous town bullies decided to mess with him. He could pretend to not care like there was no freaking tomorrow.

But Gordie was having difficulty with that mask of indifference right now. Chris was fifteen feet away with his arms wrapped around a pretty girl, swaying her slowly with the music. Gordie was dancing with his own date, Cindy, and had his hands looped around the small of her back. Cindy was playing idly with his hair at the back of his head, talking about something or other.

He must've been convincing enough for her, though, because she kept smiling and talking and fiddling with his hair like nothing was wrong. But Gordie couldn't keep his gaze off of Chris and that girl. Was she the 'someone else' Chris had left him for?

But that was silly, Gordie thought savagely. Chris couldn't have ever _left_ him because they weren't ever actually _together_.

If he were to be honest with himself, Gordie would admit that he had no idea what answer he would've given Chris before that phone call. Every bit of logic and intelligence he had ever gathered told him to reject his best friend. _Boys _in_ love_ was a ridiculous concept, absolutely silly. They'd be beaten to a pulp within a week of the news spreading around, and even if they survived, what kind of life would that be? Always hiding and running and lying. Gordie couldn't want that. _No one_ would.

But…

He glanced at Cindy, who was smiling up at him like he was a king, and then stared back at Chris and the girl. Had the phone call not happened, and Gordie had to face Chris dancing closely to some girl, he knew what his answer would be. If the twist in his gut and the aching in his head were anything to go by, Gordie would've torn that boy from his date, ran him to the closest unoccupied space, and said yes.

Teddy had not stopped glaring at Chris the entire time they danced with their dates. Chris had tried to avoid the other boy's gaze, but it was freaking piercing. It was also making him feel worse about himself every second that passed by, so finally he locked gazes with the spectacled boy and mouth a sharp '_what_?'.

Teddy muttered something in his date's ear and they broke apart. The girl trotted off towards the punch table, Teddy strolled the two feet over to Chris and Marianne, politely tapping on the girl's shoulder. Marianne twisted around to look questioningly at him.

"Mind if I borrow your date for a few minutes? I need to chat with him outside," he asked in what was probably supposed to be a suave voice, but really sounded like a bad used car salesman. Marianne nodded, unhooking herself from Chris and trailing off after Teddy's date.

Teddy immediately dropped his Nice Guy smile and gripped Chris's arm roughly, dragging towards the doors and tugging him outside. He didn't let go until they were behind the school. Chris didn't put up a fight, but rubbed at his abused arm and glared once Teddy let go and whirled around to face him.

"Geez, Teddy, way to nearly tear my arm-"

"Don't talk!" Teddy snapped, and Chris immediately stopped. He stared at the boy in front of him, taking in his balled fists and teeth digging into his lower lip. He also noticed that the furious boy had pink spots on his cheeks and his eyebrows were scrunched together.

Usually, when Teddy got angry, his entire face would turn reddish purple and his mouth would be wide open and shouting a continuous stream of obscenities. Teddy had a hell of a temper, but this was different. It wasn't the blind fury that Chris was used to. Teddy was pissed beyond belief, but he was pissed with a _purpose_.

"Don't. Talk. Listen to me, and you listen to me good, or so help me god I will beat every ounce of life out of you." Teddy took a step- although it was more of a stomp- forward and jabbed a finger at Chris. "You have messed up _so goddamn much_ with this entire thing. And maybe some of it was Gordie's doing, but you did so much more and caused much more pain than he ever could."

"That's not fair."

"Shut. Up. I've tried being nice about it. I've tried reasoning with you about it. I've tried arguing with you about it. And I've tried setting you up to take the chance and get Gordie. But that wasn't enough! Because you know what, Chambers? You were too stupid- don't you look at me like that, you heard me right- to go after what you want."

"I might have messed things up with Gordie, but _don't_ call me stupid! This entire thing is just… just _complicated_! You have no idea what you're talking about, and you haven't even _been_ there for half of the things that happened, so _stop_ butting in!" Chris cut in, crossing his arms defiantly. Teddy paused at stared at him for a moment. Suddenly, he took a final step towards Chris, getting right up in his face.

"I was there, Chambers," he hissed.

"Like _once_, and that was before-"

"When you called him and broke his heart, jackass. I was _there_. Right there, right next to him, listening in. I thought you were finally going to convince him to be with you. But I heard every word that came out of your mouth. You acted like a total douchebag instead."

"I can explain-"

"I was there; you were not! You didn't see him, Chris!" Chris opened his mouth, but nothing came out. "You didn't _see_ him," he muttered, and suddenly Teddy deflated. He clenched his fingers into his own dress shirt, twisting the white fabric and most likely crinkling it. "When he realized it was you, he lit up. It was like… I mean, it looked like he-" Teddy cut himself off, looking away. Chris opened his mouth to ask, but Teddy plowed on. "And then after you said those things, it was like he had just watched his puppy dog being torn apart by the Cobras. You could just _see_ his heart breaking. It was horrible."

Chris didn't know what to say. He had known that what he did hurt Gordie… but how could he know it was that bad? He had been indecisive about his feelings for Chris the entire time, and besides, Gordie was right in the building next to them dancing the night away with some girl.

"How could I have known it was that bad? He's been indecisive about his feelings for me the entire time, and besides, Gordie's right in the building next to us dancing the night away with some girl," he protested. Teddy frowned at him.

"You know him better than anyone, and you're telling me you can't see it when he looks at you?"

"He hasn't looked at me since that phone call," Chris pouted. Teddy sighed and stepped back a little.

"I don't know how you didn't realize this, but he hasn't _stopped_ looking at you ever since the phone call. And if I have to look over at him and see him staring at you, heart breaking in his eyes _one more time_, I will _end_ you."

Chris stared as Teddy began to walk away, but suddenly remembered his mid-conversation question.

"Wait! Teddy!" The other boy didn't stop or turn around. "What were you going to say before? About Gordie when he realized it was me on the phone?" But Teddy turned the corner of the building and strolled out of sight. Chris sighed and let his head droop, the signs of a headache rushing forth.

He glanced up when he heard a loud sigh, to find Teddy poke his head around the corner. The other boy gave him a pitiful look before making a quick decision to clue the kid in.

"He's in love with you, stupid." And then Teddy's head disappeared and the sound of the school door slamming closed could be heard. Well, Chris couldn't hear it because of the rush of blood pounding in his ears and the intense volume of his heart beating against his ribcage. He had hoped- _prayed_- that Gordie had felt more than just sexual feelings towards him, that there was something bigger there than a repeated urge to make out backed by a decade-old friendship.

Half-smiling to himself and gathering every ounce of his Chambers Courage, Chris straightened himself up and walked purposefully back into the dance.

This would happen.

He would end up with Gordie by the end of the night if it killed him.


	10. A Lovely Impulsive Speech

**So this is probably one of the last chapters. Maybe second to last? I don't know; I'm so tired that the words keep moving around on my computer screen.**

**Warnings: None? I think? Maybe, like, _one_ curse word. Possibly.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stand By Me, The Body, or the characters.**

**Reviews: Are welcome, but not demanded.**

**Thank You: to all previous reviewers. I kind of suck at replying to things. Like, a whole lot. Just like I suck at updating my stories at a reasonable pace. I procrastinate like there's five billion tomorrows.**

**I'm sorry this took a while (although three months isn't that bad. My other story has been sitting without an update for five months... gotta get on that. Eventually).**

**Right.**

Maybe Teddy's impulsive behavior rubbed off on him, or maybe Chris was just losing his mind all by himself. But either way, Chris was running on a jolt of energy, and had quite possibly the stupidest plan he had ever come up with.

Walking confidently back into the dance, Chris swept around the crowd, sticking to the outskirts so that neither Teddy nor Gordie, who were both near the middle of the students, would notice him. He snuck onto the small stage area, where a small time band was taking a break while a record player kept the tunes going. The school's principal, an older man who seriously needed to consider retiring, confronted him as he approached the stage.

"Chambers, where are you going?" he asked loudly, standing directly between Chris and the small set of stairs that led up to where he needed to go.

"Oh… uh… hi, sir. I'm, um, I need…" He trailed off, glancing off to the side anxiously. He caught sight of Gordie and his date off to the far left, and his stomach sank when he saw that they were getting awfully close. By the next slow song, he'd bet Gordie and his girl would be swapping spit. Chris looked back to the principal, who was still standing there, waiting for an answer.

"Chambers…" the principal warned.

Chris was trying to think of a good excuse to get on stage, but after one more glimpse at his best friend, the poor boy decided to just explain everything. But as soon as he opened his mouth, he lost all words for how to describe his past few months. After a few moments of opening and closing his mouth pointlessly, he simply looked up at his principal helplessly.

"I'm completely, hopelessly, unbelievably in love with someone, and I have to win them back."

The principal stared at him blankly. He seemed to be frozen for a few minutes, until he finally sighed and looked away. "You kids and your melodramatic antics," he muttered. "Fine, go. But if you say anything inappropriate or different from what your 'goal' is, I will have you in summer school for your entire vacation." He eyed Chris again, sighing lightly before walking off, leaving Chris free to access the stage.

Chris kind of just stared at the empty stage for a few moments, only coming back to reality when one of the relaxing band members cleared his throat loudly. The saxophone player was sending him a pointed look, and gestured a long-fingered hand towards the lone microphone on the stage. Chris nodded, slowly making his way up the stairs. He shakily walked up to the microphone, tapping experimentally at it to see if it was on. A dull thunking noise echoed throughout the room, and Chris stepped aside to turn the record player off. Most people stopped dancing and stared up at the stage, curious as to why their source of music stopped.

"Um, hi everyone," Chris began bravely, scanning the shaded crowd. "How are we all doing tonight?" The only response he got were mutters and loud questions regarding what happened to the music. His fellow students quickly went from confused to irritated and glaring at him impatiently. "Right. I, uh, came up here tonight because… um… I…" His gaze darted around, coming to an immediate halt and backtracking itself a bit until it landed on the one person he came to speak to. Gordie was staring right at him, eyes wide and date forgotten as he looked at the young Chambers boy blankly. Chris sighed heavily. "Listen, I know you guys want your music back, so just hear me out for a second."

"You go, Chambers!" Teddy screeched from somewhere near the center of the crowd, and Chris only grinned for a second before getting serious again.

"Thanks. Um…" He trailed off uneasily. There was an awkward silence, but finally he took a deep breath and went straight for the plunge. "I messed up with someone. Real, real bad. This someone was my best friend, and meant the world to me, and then things got complicated between us. Most of that was my fault." He looked at different random people in the crowd, avoiding Gordie's burning stare. "Okay, maybe all of it was. And ever since things got messed up, I've been ruining this person's life so much, and I wish I hadn't done any of it. Some of it was because I was blackmailed," he paused when a dramatic gasp ran throughout the crowd, "but most of it was simply my fault. I broke this person's heart and destroyed our friendship. And even though I know I don't deserve forgiveness, or even just a second chance…" Chris finally peered over to Gordie, maintaining perfect eye contact with him for the next part. "I just need this person to know that I am so unbelievably sorry for everything I've done to them, and that I'm not okay without them in my life. I… I'm in love with them."

It was dead quiet for at least a minute after Chris finished his little speech, before Teddy took the initiative and started clapping. Within seconds, the entire room was filled with applause, cheers, whistles, and someone even threw their undergarments at the trembling Chambers kid.

Slowly, because his legs felt numb and he felt so nauseous and dizzy that he might've collapsed had he gone faster, Chris made his way off of the stage, and out the entrance door. He ignored the several claps on the back, and the occasional 'go get her, man!' that random classmates threw out at him as he passed. He didn't once look back to see Gordie's reaction, and he completely ignored Teddy when the boy tried to praise him.

In fact, Chris didn't actually _breathe _until he was outside, slumped against the same brick wall he had been near earlier. He sat there for what felt like hours, although judging by how light out it still was by the time he finally stood to leave, it probably had been only twenty minutes.

He brushed his pants off, only slightly regretting sitting on the ground in his best trousers. His mother would kill him if there were any grass stains, but there weren't any that he could see. He tried to inspect his backside, but wasn't flexible enough to see it fully and ended up doing awkward spins while craning his neck over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

Chris stopped spinning and trying to look at his own butt and looked up. He nearly threw up from nerves when he saw that Gordie was standing before him, tears only half-dry on his cheeks and eyes wide as he took in the image of Chris.

Chris opened his mouth to reply, but all that came out was a small, broken noise. Gordie took in a wobbly breath, swatted away his tear streaks with the back of his hand, and stepped forward.

"Did you mean what you said?"

"I…" Chris closed his eyes and sank against the wall again, sliding back down to sit on the grass. "Yeah."

There was a short silence. "Why did you say that stuff on the phone?"

"Eyeball made me." Chris peeked open an eye when he got no response after several moments. Gordie was looking at him with slight disbelief, waiting for him to explain. "He found something and threatened to show it to Ace. He blackmailed me into calling you and… and…"

"He made you say those things to me?" Chris nodded. "How did he know about… us?" Chris hesitated, but lifted himself from the ground slightly, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a folded picture. He silently handed it to Gordie, who took it cautiously and watched him like a hawk while unfolding it. Once it was flattened, the brunette glanced down at it, but wound up gaping like a fish. Chris forced his eyes to stay open, needing to know every reaction Gordie showed.

"He found it in my room," Chris whispered. "He was going to have me call you anyway, probably to break off our friendship or something. But I kinda begged him to leave you out of it, to not make me hurt you, and…" Chris didn't need to finish the statement for Gordie to understand that Eyeball had put two and two together. "It was either call you and hurt you, or have Ace and the Cobras see the picture and hunt us down for the rest of our lives."

"It wasn't all Eyeball."

"What?"

"When you said those things… at first I thought something was up, because it didn't sound like you really meant it. But then you just… you sounded so serious and so angry. _That's_ the part that hurt. Because it _did_ sound like you, and even if Eyeball was next to you cheering you on, that part wasn't him. It was _you_, Chris, and it hurt more than anything ever before."

Chris didn't know what to say. He had felt like a worthless piece of crap after the last thing he said to Gordie on the phone. And Gordie was right; that part wasn't part of Eyeball's script. Chris spat that out all on his own, and the skinny brunette could tell that the fury behind the words was real.

"But what you did tonight… that took a lot of guts, Chambers. You _do_ realize that half of the school figured out who you were talking about, right?"

Chris's head jerked up. "What? They couldn't have! I didn't say your name, and I didn't even use 'he'!"

"You said that the person you screwed up with is your best friend. Everyone knows that's me," Gordie pointed out, crossing his arms. Chris winced.

"Are you?" The following silence was heart breaking.

Gordie finally shifted, moving to sit next to Chris against the building. "Back there, when you were on the stage… the last thing you said…" Gordie looked away, but Chris could see that the tips of his ears were flushed. He thought back to his speech, which was completely off the top of his head and sort of a blur at this point, but he specifically remembered the part where he looked at Gordie and said the final line.

"I said that… I was sorry for everything I've done to you, and that I want you in my life," he muttered. He couldn't bring himself to add the last part, although he knew that it was the left out line Gordie had been referring to.

"Yeah but after that… you said… um…"

Chris turned his face away, shutting his eyes briefly and gripping the knees of his pants tightly. "Then there was the part about… um… love," he scratched out, looking at the highly interesting blades of grass four feet away. Gordie didn't say anything for a minute, but then Chris felt a hand grip his jaw lightly and turn his face towards the other boy. Gordie was leaning close to him, looking directly at his nose.

"It wasn't just about love. You said… you're _in_ love. With me." He still wouldn't look into Chris's eyes, but the lighter haired boy couldn't say he minded at the moment.

"Oh. Yeah."

"Did you mean _that_ part?" Chris's head felt really warm as he realized that Gordie's gaze had flicked from his nose to his mouth. He felt like the earth was spinning, and the fact that their faces were mere inches away was not helping whatsoever. Chris looked into Gordie's eyes, although he, for the life of him, could not tell what the brunette was thinking by staring at him. His trance was broken when Gordie's fingers squeezed his chin a little, reminding him that he had a very important question to answer.

He only got out a half of a nod before Gordie pulled his face closer and kissed him.


	11. Going Away

**This is awkward. **

**It's been. Um. Over a year. And.**

**And this story is just ASDFJKL;ASDFJK;LASDFJKJ;. It's so _lame_ and I reread parts of it today and ASDFJKL;ASDFJKL;ASDFJKL;;LFKDJAAJSKDFL; and _ugh_. **

**This is a very quick, very pointless, very ridiculous chapter and I should be ashamed to post it, but at least this story isn't dead, yeah?**

**I just got internet at my new place, and my room mate set up the wifi. So this story will be completed eventually.**

**There will be like. One more chapter? And it will be an epilogue or sommat. **

**Anyway.**

**I apologize in advance for the uselessness of this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Stand By Me, The Body, or the characters.**

**Warnings: None.**

**Flamers be flaming.**

* * *

All things considered, it was actually pretty stupid to sit against a public building during a school dance, making out with another guy. They were indescribably lucky that no one had wandered out after them.

Well, no one except Teddy, who made a noise of exasperation before throwing half a cup of ice water at Chris and Gordie, who broke apart instantly. "Because _that's _a brilliant thing to do with our entire school right inside the building," Teddy remarked, watching in vague amusement as Chris scrambled to his feet, leaving Gordie against the wall.

"Um, we were just- I mean-"

"I just wanted to warn you that I've heard exactly six threats to beat the shit out of you two, two plans to rat you out to the Cobras, and precisely no blessings to your stupidly obvious relationship." While it was said in an airy tone, there was serious concern on Teddy's face. Chris felt his stomach sink and throat go dry, and he could see Gordie had lowered his head to his hands from the corner of his eye. "I, um. I think maybe you should head home early or something. Or maybe not home. Maybe the tree house."

Gordie groaned, peeking up over his hands. "How long until this stops being a big deal, do you think?" Both Teddy and Chris turned to give him an incredulous stare, and Gordie's eyes flickered to the ground. "Oh."

After a moment of tense silence, Chris hesitantly turned and lowered a hand out to his best friend, gently helping him to his feet. The two released the grip immediately, and Teddy sighed. "Just. Be careful, okay?" He watched silently as the two nodded and then proceeded to make a run for it.

He had carefully neglected to mention that one of the Cobras their age- a newer rank who was looking for a good way to suck up to Ace and Eyeball- had been at the dance with some trampy date, and that he had left the building a second after Chris's announcement.

The Cobras probably already knew by now, and there were threats of more than just beatings flying around.

* * *

Chris hurried up the ladder after Gordie, snapping the trapdoor shut and latching it with a rusty old padlock. It was hardly a good defense system, but it made them feel a little less on the verge of being attacked. They sat on opposite sides of the small card table, both staring at scratches on the surface and clueless as to how to start this awkward conversation.

"So," Gordie began, but then closed his mouth.

Chris shifted uncomfortably. "So." There was an awkwardly long pause, and then all at once Gordie slumped his shoulders, breath leaving in a heavy sigh.

"I wish Denny was here. He'd know what to do." He rubbed his forehead tiredly, finally looking up at Chris. "We're as good as dead, you know."

"Yeah. I know."

"We can't go back to school. We can't stay home. We can't- we can't _stay _here."

Chris nodded miserably. "I know."

Frustrated, Gordie banged his fists on the table. "No, I don't think you _do_. We have to _leave_. Forever. We can't live in our own goddamn homes- our own goddamn _town_ anymore! We're not even out of school, and we're gonna have to- have to-"

Chris glared at him, frowning. "I _know_. I get it. We need to leave or we'll be killed."

Gordie stood up abruptly, beat up lawn chair tumbling backwards from the force. He slapped both palms onto the table, shaking it slightly but not caring in the slightest. "We are going to _die_!"

"_I know_!" Chris shouted, and Gordie flinched and shut his mouth. "I know, okay? My brother is Eyeball goddamn Chambers, in case you forgot! We can't stay here, I know! At least you can go home and pack your shit up; the second I step near my lawn my brother will probably blow my effing brains out!" He took a shuddery breath, standing slowly. "I. Know. And I'm terrified, Gordo. I _am_. I can't even… I'm not ready for this. I didn't mean to do this, I swear. And I wish I could take it back, but-"

"No!" Gordie blurted, flushing light pink immediately. "I mean. Um." He looked away, crossing his arms defensively. "I don't. I didn't mean I wanted you to take it back. I just…"

Chris couldn't help the slight smile tugging at his lips. "I just meant that… I shouldn't have included the last bit. In public. At our school dance. On stage. Over a microphone."

"Well, yeah. Maybe. But I mean… yeah."

They stood there for a moment, half-smiling at each other. Their heads nearly brushed the roof of the small tree house, having grown a little too big to fit perfectly, and there was a constant risk of someone tracking them down and beating them to a pulp. But for just one small moment, they stood in peace.

But it ended quickly, and Chris sighed. "You better go pack what you can before your parents hear anything," he said softly, and Gordie nodded.

"Come with me. You're gonna have to use my clothes and stuff, since you can't really ever go home," he replied, biting his lip. Chris would never see his mother or his younger siblings again. He and Gordie would have to run away, to some other small town where no one knew them. They'd be dirt poor, have to start working young, and would probably be homeless for the better part of a while. They didn't have much of a choice, though.

But Chris only smirked. "Like I could fit my muscular body into your tiny-ass clothes," he teased, and they both laughed a little too hard at that. "Oh well. Let's get going," he added, watching as Gordie unlocked the padlock and opened the trap door again. He had one foot through it when Chris reached out and grabbed his shoulder, stopping the brunette abruptly.

Without a word, Chris stepped up close, smiling softly as he leaned in and pressed his lips to Gordie's. Gordie inhaled slightly, and then slipped his hands over his best friend's shoulders. Chris pulled back just a moment later, smile turning almost bitter. "Won't get to do that for a while," he commented mildly, giving a semi-awkward pat to Gordie's shoulder.

"Oh. Right, yeah. Um, we need to. Um. We. What were we doing?"

Chuckling, Chris pushed past Gordie and slipped out the trap door.


End file.
